On Becoming a Strategic Thinker

“Most fundamentally, strategy is about asking good questions, creating alternatives, and then making decisions about how to allocate scarce resources. [...] It's a place where you have a 360-degree view of a business.” - Ashley Hubka, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Walmart Business

If you were to ask 100 people what business strategy is, you would probably get 105 answers because 5 of the people would have more than one idea.?

There is something magical about a concept that is hard to define. Our minds fill in the blanks with the best possible answers, simultaneously making strategy the highest standard in business and also the hardest outcome to deliver.

In this week’s episode of Art of Supply, I had the opportunity to interview Ashley Hubka, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Walmart Business. Her background is full of positions in consulting and with strategy in the job title - and she has a degree in Philosophy from Harvard University to boot.

I took the opportunity to ask Ashley what strategic thinking means as well as what she is watching in the B2B space over the next 12 to 24 months.

To discover what happens when you take a consumer shopping experience and expand it to institutional customers, read Creating a B2C to B to C Improvement Cycle at Walmart Business on Art of Procurement.

Near the end of our conversation, I asked Ashley what strategic trends she is watching over the next 12-24 months:

We’re All Impacted by Consumers

Most of us think of Walmart from a consumer perspective, but as they expand into the institutional space, the information they have about consumers is still a competitive advantage.

“I feel privileged sitting inside of Walmart to have visibility into consumer trends, thinking about where the consumer is headed, and then how does that impact the businesses we serve?” she reflected. “What is their experience of the macroeconomic environment around them? [...] We’re really tuned into how that flows through the value chain and how it impacts our customers.”

Technology Is on Everyone’s Mind?

Technology dominates so many business conversations, and strategy is no exception. With their roots in the B2C space, the Walmart Business team is acutely aware of the connection between technology and experience.

“Walmart talks about being people-led and tech-powered,” Ashley pointed out. “We're doing a tremendous amount to put things like AI and automation to work in our software, in our operations, in all of our facilities, both stores and fulfillment or supply chain facilities. Thinking about how those things can serve our business, but again, how are they going to impact our customers? Some of that's awareness, understanding, and empathy for the position in which our customers are operating.”

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To Become Strategic, Take a Step Back

I agree with Ashley’s point about technology being everywhere, but the point is made more interesting to me because she connects it to customer experience.

All industries and businesses are ultimately impacted by individual consumers. The business that never forgets that, the procurement team that never forgets that, the sales or marketing team that never forgets that is the team that will win the day.

We talk about global business and extended supply chains, but doing so obscures the reality that every single business goes from some kind of raw material (or basic skill) and eventually leads to a person in a house making a decision to buy. That person will hit your top - and therefore your bottom - line regardless of what they decide to do.?

That brings me to Ashley’s answer to my question about how a background in strategy shapes her thinking. “Most fundamentally, strategy is about asking good questions, creating alternatives, and then making decisions about how to allocate scarce resources. [...] It's a place where you have a 360-degree view of a business.”?

Every part of her answer challenges what I would have assumed about a ‘strategic’ professional:?

• Strategic people have all the answers - no, they ask good questions
• They can see which option is best - no, they create viable alternatives
• They have the best resources because they are ‘strategic’ - no, they are effective at allocating scarce resources

The best piece of all is Ashley’s comment about the 360-degree view. Maybe that is where the loftiness of strategic positions comes in. But given that I would have been wrong about all of the other reasons strategic professionals are successful, it seems safe to assume that I am wrong here, too.

I don’t think that expansive view is accessible because strategic leaders are actually higher up (or taller) than anyone else. I think it is a metaphorical distance. They can step back in their own minds, removing themselves from the details and getting enough perspective to see the unasked questions and the alternatives.?

Which means… regardless of background or experience, we all have the capacity to be strategic professionals. It is an internal capability. Thinking strategically is more of a discipline than it is a level of achievement. Sure, it helps to be surrounded by other strategic thinkers and to go through tough times just for the opportunity to learn, but any one of us can start the process. We just have to take a step back.

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