Strategy is about choices
Have you ever asked yourself: What is my strategy? Recently, I led a strategy meeting for an arts organization.
I started by defining it. Author Seth Godin says, “A strategy is the set of choices we make (and stick with) as we seek to compete.” (from his book This is Strategy).
What are these choices we must make? Well, there are so many! Things like what time we start our concerts, the words we use in ads, the projects we create, our partnerships, the people we hire.
And yet, we often make them without seeing the big picture, the strategy, the philosophy that connects these choices.
To help reveal and clarify the underlying strategy, I posed 3 questions:
Who is our work for?
What is the change we seek to make for them?
Who is our work not for? What are we not here to do?
The third question prompted an intriguing conversation. We wondered: Isn't our work for everyone? Shouldn't all be able to benefit?
Yes and no. Yes in the sense that we don't want to exclude access. No in the sense that if our work is for everyone, it is also for no one.
It also made me think how thinking our work is for everyone may actually be a way to avoid making a choice. This is why strategy conversations are hard, because they confront us with difficult choices. It takes courage, conviction, and clarity to say, “Our work is not for you.”
Eventually, what came out of this discussion is the notion of prioritization. That was fruitful. We recognized that our work can be for a lot of people (possibly for everyone). At the same time, it's crucial to identify an order of priority.
This choice can provide focus for our limited time and efforts. It can help us choose tasks that fit our "who” and that serve our "what.” It can help us choose to say “yes” or “no” to opportunities that come our way. These choices define our strategy and maximize our impact.
Going back to the 3 questions: There is actually no right answer. And I'm not one to judge whether our answers are right or wrong. These answers will evolve over time. Adjusting these choices to suit our circumstance and needs are part of the game.
For every moment, we must be brave and simply make a choice. That will give us a chance to see how our impact can unfold.
So, what is your strategy? And how could you clarify it with these questions?
PS. After this strategy meeting, I tried to answer these questions for myself. I had this articulated many times before, but I decided now to put it in a chart so 1) I can see it all in one place and 2) I can iterate this as I go along my journey.
Here's my chart, if you're curious - shared with the caveat that it will probably change!
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