Three Questions Strategy Must Answer

Why strategy? Why take the effort to figure it out?

Simply put: Because it’ll help you win bigger.

And why not? Why do so many of us chicken out?

Because strategy demands energy, effort, and decision.

So listen, whether you’re a large, complex organization or a solopreneur: strategy is the element that will increase your odds of finding success. Taking the time and space to determine your strategy is the single biggest optimizer you can make in 2024.

Where to begin building your strategy:

Strategy demands answers to three questions. Failing to answer these questions eliminates your opportunity for real strategy.

1️⃣ How do we want to win?

2️⃣ What obstacle is in our way?

3️⃣ How will we overcome that obstacle?

Strategy pitfalls to watch out for:

Soft and vague answers are worse because they’ll leave you with a false sense of security, but no real strategy:

1️⃣ A winning aspiration that’s not concrete will fail to give you direction. Defining too many aspirations will dilute your focus and resources.

2️⃣ Picking a false obstacle or choosing to ignore how serious the problem is will let the obstacle grow while you fail to make progress to your winning aspiration.

3️⃣ Choosing to overcome an obstacle by being “better” or “the best at X” will give you no direction on “how.” This will leave you feeling good while making no progress.

Additional questions to explore strategy:

Strategy demands a bit of wandering and exploration.

1️⃣ To understand how you want to win, ask…

• What trends or changes are we seeing?

• What future do we want to create?

• What impact can only we make?

2️⃣ To see what obstacle is in your way, ask…

• Is this problem the root problem?

• Will solving this problem knock down other problems?

• What problem will present itself if this one is solved?

3️⃣ To decide how you will overcome that obstacle, ask…

• How do we see the world differently than our competitors?

• How can we give more value?

• What novel solutions could we explore?

Strategy is the difference between limping along and finding success. I hope you join me and take the time to explore what kind of powerful strategy you could build in 2024.

Cheers to your journey.