What Even Is Strategy?
Leader: “Can you help us figure this out?”
Me: “Sure, but you don’t look so good.”
Leader: “I don’t feel so good.”
Me: “What’s going on?”
Leader: “I think we need a fresh strategy.”
Far too often, I have this conversation with business leaders looking for a little help. And far more often, a similar internal dialogue likely takes place in the minds of business leaders without someone to ask for help. This is where our challenge begins.
What is Strategy?
For a word that is used repeatedly in the office, in emails, in proposals, on zoom calls, in conferences, books, and lectures, there is no common understanding of what we mean by the word strategy. In fact, every book on strategy begins with the author establishing his or her own definition.
Since we tend to play pretty fast-and-loose with its meaning, it would probably behoove us to at least think about the origins of the term to form an agreeable foundation for conversation around it. So, let’s talk strategy.
Battle Plans
Until 50 years ago, strategy was primarily a military concept. Post WWII, however, business leaders and thinkers brought their military experience, mental models, and language—fighting words, as it were—off the battle field and into industry. To win in business, they surmised, fresh from successfully defeating the Nazis, perhaps we should similarly draw up our battle plans and go to war.
References to business strategy were rare before 1960. They started to take off during the 1970s and by 2000 became more frequent than references to military strategy. (Freedman, Lawrence. Strategy: A History, p. 13. Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.)
War and business, however, are not a 1:1 comparison, so the fit must be either tailored to the situation or designed in such a way to be a one-size-fits-all solution. But the idea of strategy didn’t suddenly emerge during WWII, so let’s dig in further for more clarity.
The Art of the General
Strategy has always been a fuzzy concept; the Latin language doesn’t even have a word for it. We know that it has to do with higher level thinking decisions. It’s almost always associated with the bigger picture, and, for most, it may be considered “above their pay grade.” For instance, being a good soldier is about following orders, but being a great general is about commanding the right strategy. It’s not solely about leading troops into battle, but about understanding people, cultures, adversaries, and battle tactics—the elements of war—well enough to determine the right path to victory, to train and develop soldiers and win their loyalty, and to courageously implement that direction to the point of victory, and ultimately, peace. A command of the skills of battle is not enough; wise decision making is required.
In 900, the Byzantine emperor Leo VI wrote of strategía...A few centuries later there was some knowledge of Leo’s work, but when in 1554 a Cambridge professor translated the text into Latin, which lacks a word for strategy, he used “the art of the general” or “the art of command.” (Freedman, Lawrence. Strategy: A History pp. 72-73. Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.)
Carl von Clausewitz is the father of modern western military strategy. His concepts of war shaped how western militaries thought about war for the coming century. For instance, he was the first to parse out the difference between tactics and strategy.
"In tactics the means are the fighting forces...the end is victory. The original means of strategy is victory—that is, tactical success; its ends...are those objects which will lead directly to peace. Strategy...confers a special significance...on the engagement: it assigns a particular aim to it." (Carl von Clausewitz, On War,1832.)
Beginning in the 1970s and continuing through the 2010s, business strategy has far surpassed the popularity of military strategy. Everyone wants a strategy. Everyone wants to win. Every domain, sphere, discipline, and area of life has strategies to choose from, from family to business to personal growth and everything in between. Want a strategy for it? There’s almost definitely a template available, so you can live your best life.
Interestingly enough, a 5th century BC Chinese military treatise sits atop the Amazon rankings for business strategy, currently. What could it possibly have to say about modern business some 2,500 years later? Well, apparently a lot. First fully translated into English in 1910, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War broke out of the confines of military education some 80 years later as a best selling business leadership book. Not sure Sun Tzu could have imagined that thousands of years later he would be one of the most successful thought leaders in business, but here we are. Regarding leadership, among many things, he wrote .
“The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.” (Sun Tzu, The Art of War.)
Should There Be a Definition At All?
I hope you can see the challenge here. If business strategy is so clearly defined, why are we still looking to Sun Tzu’s military aphorisms to figure out what we should be doing to successfully lead our businesses? But I think he’s right—there isn’t a shortage of strategies to be bought, sold, and employed by tacticians; there’s a shortage of generals making calculations beforehand.
J. Spender said it well when he wrote that
...there can be no theoretical definition of strategy because this is not a theoretical concept. Rather, it is an empirical concept about overcoming real-world difficulties that take their meaning from the situation’s particulars—this chosen objective in this context, at this moment. (Spender, J.C. Business Strategy, p. 13. OUP Oxford. Kindle Edition.)
This chosen objective. This one—the one that fits my business. The one that is the right outcome for me, for those that work for me, and for my clients and customers.
This context. This specific one—this place, these people, this culture, this market, with these competitors, these costs, and these opportunities.
This moment. This very one—not 20 years ago or 10 years ago or even 6 months ago. Right now, with all that is happening in the world, this business, and me. Right now.
Every author, strategist, and expert will tell you their way is the way and success lies at the end of its correct implementation. But the ideal strategy does not exist. It’s not the way of the general to get caught up in semantics and definitions, and it’s not the way of the wise leader, either. She understands her objectives, context, and her moment, and shapes the appropriate strategy through the lens of experience. Business leaders, command of an ideal strategic framework for your business is great for presentations and book sales, but it doesn’t provide much comfort or support when you are in the heat of the battle.
Wise decision making is required.
***Ready to explore your objective, your context, and your moment? Changegoat partners with investors, founders, and executives in the moments where leadership matters most. We don’t have a strategy for sale; we’ll help you ask better questions to unlock both personal growth and organizational performance.***
