WHAT IS STRATEGY AND MORE IMPORTANTLY WHAT IT IS NOT
The strategy is as simple or complex a concept for humans as is the conception of water for the fish. As the fish is the last one to notice the water so are we cursed with the difficulty to conceptualize it because it is so ingrained in our psyche that despite knowing it, we still struggle with it. That is the reason that there are so many different views about the strategy that a famous book on the subject has been named as Strategy Safari as if Strategy is some kind of jungle where beasts of strategy live and who impart strategic lessons to all who come to see them. And the funny thing is that the author of that book is true; strategic ways are as numerous as there are stars in the galaxy or there are beasts in the world – or perhaps even more.
Confusing? Bet you it is. Now, this reminds me of one of my ex-bosses who was fond of the word Strategy or Strategically, and the moment he uttered it, I would just brace myself and pretend that I am listening to his monologue with interest for the next fifteen minutes or so if I am lucky and more if I am having a bad day. It was his way of sounding important while what he was actually doing was venting out something about the business that he hasn’t yet worked out. Because when he knew the next course of action, he was very crisp and to the point. The vague nature of strategy is something that gives a license of importance to C suite executives and political leaders, among many others and this vagueness is also something that keeps the nature of these charlatans hidden in plain view.
But the strategy is the simplest thing to understand. It is the main driver that propels the engine of the term “HOW” at a higher level. Yes, it is as simple - how to get something done; how to get from point A to point B; or if we don’t know what is point A or point B, to find out what is that. Or if I want to define the strategy in the most academic-sounding terms, it will be, “Strategy is the outcome of an exercise whereby the course of action is charted (and/or implemented) by considering all the related factors affecting the course of action and adjusting along the way.”
Or if I simply define it in the way a common Joe would describe it, I would say that plan of action is called strategy.
But what it is that makes the strategy so near to us like the water is to fish. The reason is the “Cognitive Revolution.” Cognitive Revolution is something that scientists think is what differentiates us human beings from every other species in the world.
Cognitive Revolution happened about 70,000 years ago or as scientists think so and like many numbers in archaeology is subject to change if new evidence emerges. Cognitive revolution is what gave human beings the ability to imagine abstract notions that otherwise do not exist in reality like joint-stock companies, constitution, currency, democracy, capitalism, religion, socialism and most importantly the concept of state and nationhood.
From my own corporate law study more than two decades ago when I was preparing for the chartered accountant’s exam, I still vividly remember the lesson that a joint-stock company is an artificial judicial person and is nothing more than the artificial construct of legal imagination. In the same way, is the state. For example, no India existed as a state till British colonialists consolidated and named it India and proclaimed it as a country irrespective of what right-wing Hindutva claims.
As the cognitive ability of the human species is so ingrained in our minds that like living in water is for fish, which perhaps cannot notice water unless it is out of it, we also don’t realize the role it plays in our day to day life and how it helps us navigate the life. After all, it is only a couple of centuries ago when Newton articulated gravity while human bodies instinctively know how to react to it by having the sense to balance itself.
Everything we do to negotiate our life path through various obstacles that we encounter like a bad boss, happy spouse, bad mother in law has the element of “how-to” to be answered, and as we became more adept at situations that we encounter frequently, our response becomes more refined and effortless.
As mentioned above this “how-to” is what lies beneath the strategy. Now, we might argue that in this way almost every problem-solving scenario becomes a strategy formulation exercise then I’ll agree to that. However, here we might want to define the outcomes of “how-to” as concentric circles where the outer we go more Strategically we get and inner we go, more tactically we get and at the innermost circle lie the most mundane of tasks and actions.
So is everyone a strategist then? Well, yeah and though business schools and military academies might crucify me for saying so but every one of us has an innate capability of becoming strategists and some time, it is just the life circumstances that propel one into being a Great Strategist. Genghis Khan is one such example who was totally illiterate yet his strategic manoeuvres are still studied and taught in elite military schools.
So is strategy is like an elephant of proverbial Indian fable around which four blind men were trying to figure out its form? I think it is bigger than this. Instead of thinking it as an object, we should imagine it as a kind of spectrum as I believe that the strategy is like the spectrum of human cognitive ability, which is much denser and practically limitless.
Now we can answer - Is Michael Porter’s competitive analysis a strategic tool? Indeed, it is. Blue Ocean Strategy – yes to that and so on.
How to control our teenagers - definitely a strategy is needed.
What is not a strategy!
Wishes and vague goals are not strategies. In the country where I live - Pakistan, when a child is born, parents start thinking about what he will become when he grows up. The answer is usually a Doctor or Engineer. This is not a strategy. At the most, we can call it Vision, which corporate consultants are fond of peddling as some kind of strategy.
The same goes for the question as to what this child will do when he becomes a doctor or engineer. He will serve people or make the parents or country proud is usually the answer, which without any substance is again a fantasy and we all know that organizations spent huge money to pay to consultants to articulate such fantasies.
Why both the above examples are not strategies? Well - because both do not define the practical approach as to how to achieve these fantasies. One may call them goals against which the strategies should be formulated, but most of the time like the parents of Pakistani children who do not have any idea about the temperament and capabilities of their children and go on formulating their vision and mission in the air, organizations too go down on the same route, and sadly this is what happens the majority of times. Worse are those who under the influence of what the market considers as a sign of enlightened organizations come with silly Vision and Mission statements that have no value except for the consultant or internal strategy department that gets paid for such things.
Following are two examples of the Vission and Mission Statements of two of leading companies of my country that are publically available on the web sites and let us see why they are just empty words adopted just because they need to look modern with having slick vision and mission statements.
1. Habib Bank Limited
Web Site: https://www.hbl.com/ourbrand
Vision: Enabling people to advance with confidence and success.
Mission: To make our customers prosper, our staff excel and create value for shareholders.
Issue: Vision statement can be used for boys’ scouts and girls guide movement too, while the mission statement is so generic that even a betting company can say the same about their establishment.
2. Pakistan Oilfields Limited
Web Site: https://www.pakoil.com.pk/companyinfo.html#vision
Vision: To be the leading oil and gas exploration and production Company of Pakistan with the highest proven hydrocarbon reserves and production, and which provides optimum value to all stakeholders.
Mission: We aim to discover and develop new hydrocarbon reserves and enhance production from existing reserves through the application of the best available technologies and expertise.
In achieving our aim, we will maximize the return to our shareholders, fully protect the environment, enhance the well-being of our employees and contribute to the national economy.
Issue: I would like to reader to put their hands on their hearts, and think that after reading Pakistan and Oilfields in the name of the company, have they gleaned any additional information from their so-called vision and mission statements?
I can go on and on but I believe readers to be smart enough to realize what I am talking about.
This is my firsts article on strategy, and I will keep writing on it and the collection, once finished, can be considered a comprehensive primer on strategy.