Strategy

Does the poster at the left describe how your organization thinks about strategy?  When I speak with managers and executives about the topic of strategy, (or when I ask a group to describe during a workshop what a strategy is) I find there is a lack of understanding about what strategy is, and why we need to create one.  If I am honest about it, I think my understanding of strategy was pretty superficial at the time when I first was taught  it during my MBA program, and I think perhaps I was not alone.  Many of us need to re-learn the basic concepts.
I find often people can’t describe the strategy, or translate it into what they should do within their departments that supports strategy execution. For many of us, strategy is an annual event that feeds information upward together with a set of budgets and pro-forma financial statements.
What Strategy is, and Is Not
Ask yourself if YOU can define what strategy is, in just a couple of sentences.   Then, watch this brief video clip featuring Michael Porter talking about what strategy is and what some of the main mistakes are that people make.
Would you change your definition after watching this?
Strategy Must Be in Response to External Forces
While it is fine to ask what it is YOU would like to do, or how you would like to create your own business.   However, it must also be developed in response to those pervasive external forces (we call drivers) that are influencing your industry and your business.   These forces are seldom ones we can control, but our understanding them helps us imagine what we must do in response.
Here is Professor Porter speaking about the five main forces that drive (or should drive) strategy.   It has to do with understanding the external forces from competitors, suppliers and customers that drive profitability in your business.
How much do you know about your what things are driving not only you, but your customers, suppliers, and competitors as well?
You can’t Please Everyone
I don’t...