Ask ten entrepreneurs what strategy is and most will give the same answer: The strategy is a long-term plan. My undergraduate students give a similar answer on the first day of my strategic management class. Also, many people use the word to inflate the importance of their activities. One business executive boasted, “I’m excited because after one year we finished working on our five-year strategic plan.” Although it was difficult, we made it. His strategic plan was an end goal. He presented it to his board of directors and then moved on to another major project. That is not understanding strategy and strategic management.
Strategy is about options
I learned strategy as a teenager in college when I learned to play chess. I soon discovered that chess is a game of strategy. Each person begins with the goal of capturing the other person’s king. Each one must understand the value Y paper of individual chess pieces, particularly how each one moves. Tea pawn advance a space, the Knight in an inverted L shape, the bishop diagonally to as many open spaces consecutively as available, while the Queen it goes in all directions to any available space sequentially.
You cannot play random chess; stay focused on your goal. Before each move, reflect on how the other player might respond and consider a possible counterattack. When the opponent moves unexpectedly, review your overall approach.
What is the strategy in chess? Is his options to achieve your goal of beating your competition. That’s strategy in a nutshell: options to achieve your goals. And the strategy is not static, but dynamic. Once you decide on your general approach (strategy) to capturing your opponent’s king, if she makes an unexpected move, review your strategy and adjust as necessary. Never choose a game plan to mate the king and blindly follow him, change as needed. Learn the opponent’s patterns (past) and use it (present) to develop your overall approach (future). Also, never make a “strategic plan” and file it away. Update it to show the options currently available to fulfill the mission of the company.
Strategy and negative choices
I learned three valuable lessons about strategy during my 32-year business career. First, the strategy allows you to optimally commit resources. Second, every time you commit resources in one area, you deny those resources to other areas. It is essential to take this into account. Although it’s obvious, sometimes we don’t spend enough time looking at this. negative choice.
The third noteworthy lesson is options it will not turn out as expected and it will be impossible to reverse in the short or medium term. When this happens, if you made a mistake, admit it, look available options early, and understand that this is part of the strategic journey. You will not make all the decisions correctly. The strategy is not static, but dynamic.