Strategy: Unnecessarily Complex, Unequivocally Difficult

Try answering this question, in one sentence: What is Strategy?

Difficult right? Really difficult.

And unsurprisingly so, given the 1000’s of descriptions and explanations out there. 

However, the problem doesn’t originate with the variety of descriptions per-say, but with the people giving and receiving those descriptions. Let me explain why…

We turn to cognitive psychology, to something known as ‘Complexity Bias’; that is, the human brains preference to overcomplicate situations.

Ever wonder why situations are so seemingly complicated, until they aren’t? That’s primarily Complexity Bias at work.

It's instinctive and sub conscious – it’s simply how we are wired.

This then drives the inevitability that most of us who talk strategy aren’t actually clear on what it is. We've consumed 100’s of overly complex definitions over the years, all of which create a blurred mess in our own heads. 

So, let’s try simplifying...

The Oxford Dictionary states strategy is:

“a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim”

Accurate, but not particularly actionable.

Let’s look at another quote, this time from Philip Kotler, one of the fathers of Marketing:

“Strategy is deciding what not to do”

Combining these 2 definitions gives us a clear statement of action. Strategy is: 

“deciding what you want to achieve (long-term aim), choosing the right set of tools to get there (plan of action), and forgetting everything else (what not to do)”

Let’s take a personal life example, of someone’s long-term aim being to run a marathon. Should their training plan of action be primarily strength or endurance focused? 

The answer is obvious.

But it articulates an important point; just because something isn’t necessarily bad (i.e. strength training), doesn’t mean it should form part of your plan.

In other words, you have to start with the long-term aim and work backwards to build a plan of suitable parts.

All simple, common sense stuff. 

But what about in business, and in practice?

Here the landscape is more complex. Company performance, competitor activity & customer requirements make deciding on a long-term aim (business goal) problematic. You need to be doggedly objective and possess high-level thinking capabilities.

Designing a suitable plan of action (business plan) is even more difficult. This requires subject matter experts across all disciplines to collaborate, putting the business goal ahead of their own personal agendas. 

Furthermore, if we draw a comparison with the marathon example above, there is an inherent pressure in business to do everything ‘good’. 

Every new customer, every advertising channel, every new HR buzz initiative; the day-to-day pressure to deliver everything is very real and very difficult to ignore.

Saying 'no' to apparent opportunities is counterintuitive, but it is the single most important behaviour for organisations wanting to be strategic.

We then move past strategy design (goal and plan) to delivery (execution), and whether it’s in life or business, this is where difficult transcends into outright impossible, at least for most. 

Why?

Because delivery requires discipline. 

The ability to not give in to short-term temptation, or get distracted along the way, and to stay committed to the overall aim even when times get tough. 

And unfortunately, we are human; we’re not very good at this, at all!

So, you see, whilst the concept of Strategy is unnecessarily complex, behaving strategically is unequivocally difficult.

Ironically, we have human nature to thank for both.