Strategy is what you will not do

Most documents called strategy are not one. A list of goals is not a strategy. A statement about being the leading provider of quality solutions is not a strategy. A budget is not a strategy.

A strategy is a choice about where to compete and how to win there, which necessarily means choosing what not to do. If your strategy does not rule anything out, it is a wish list, and the test is simple: what does this document tell us to stop doing or refuse?

Why the refusing is the hard part. Every option ruled out has somebody who wanted it, and saying no to a reasonable opportunity is uncomfortable. Organisations avoid it by approving everything, which spreads the same resources across more things and produces a collection of underfunded efforts.

The three questions a strategy answers. Where are we playing, meaning which customers, markets and segments. How do we win there, meaning why they would choose us over the alternative. And what capabilities does that require, meaning what we must be genuinely good at.

The second is where most fail. "Better quality and service" is what every competitor also claims. A real answer to how you win is specific and is something a competitor would find difficult to copy.

And it has to be a choice. Serving everybody, competing on price and quality and service simultaneously, is not a strategy because nothing about it is a decision.