What is Your Strategy, In a Sentence?

What is Your Strategy, In a Sentence?

2020 was a challenging year. By March, we had thrown all of our plans away and were adjusting to a new environment. Having made it through 2020, we now have entered 2021. What awaits? From what I hear, we are going to be living with COVID for a while, regardless of the vaccine. How long who knows, but forecasts I hear are Q3 or Q4. Thus, we are in a Groundhog Day for effectively another year. So, what is your strategy for 2021 and beyond? And more importantly, do your employees clearly understand your strategy? Can they state it in a single sentence?

In discussions with many companies, and ignoring those that respond with a blank stare, I hear everything across the spectrum from “We have a detailed strategic plan” to “We don’t really have a strategy.” Often what I hear are tactics, but mostly hope. But as Dr. Akande famously said, “Hope is not a strategy.” So, I hope all of you have your strategies planned for 2021 and beyond.

If you do, I hope it is written down, because as Emmitt Smith said, “It’s only a dream until you write it down, and then it becomes a goal.” So, assuming you have your strategy, and it is written down, you need to be able to articulate it in one sentence.

Why one sentence? Because most of those that have strategies don’t provide a crisp, clear answer in a single sentence (which may be the reason so many people in organizations complain about a crisis of clarity).

Patrick Lencioni’s Four Disciplines of the Advantage are even more key today. The Four Disciplines are:

  • Discipline 1: Build a Cohesive Leadership Team
  • Discipline 2: Create Clarity
  • Discipline 3: Over-Communicate Clarity
  • Discipline 4: Reinforce Clarity

In a time with so much uncertainty, the key to success is being able to adapt quickly to market conditions and pivot where needed. However, if your employees don’t know your strategy with clarity when the environment changes, they will be seeking input from above as to how to respond. Slowing decision making increases the opportunity for you to adapt too slowly and suffer from increased losses or missing out on new opportunities.

So, a one-sentence strategy achieves Discipline 2. Furthermore, if there is clarity, then it can be easily communicated and understood. With Discipline 3, over-communicating clarity, everyone in the organization should know the strategy and state it in the same way. With clarity and focus across the organization, it is more likely that the organization can reach its goals as everyone will understand if something fits with the strategy.

In addition, it needs to be a sentence because a single sentence has real power. As Clare Booth Luce once told John F. Kennedy in 1962, “a great man is one sentence.” His leadership can be so well summed up in a single sentence that you don’t have to hear his name to know who’s being talked about. For example, “He preserved the union and freed the slaves,” doesn’t need explaining that it was Abraham Lincoln. Luce was telling Kennedy to concentrate, to know the great themes and demands of his time, and focus on them. It was good advice. When imperatives are clear and met, you get quite a sentence.

While these are legacy sentences and focus on the past, the same logic can apply to strategy, which is focused on the future. Thus, a great strategy is a sentence.

So how do you do it?

Roger Martin, in his book, Playing To Win, proposed a strategic framework based on five key questions:

  1. What is our winning aspiration?
  2. Where will we play?
  3. How will we win?
  4. What capabilities do we need?
  5. What management systems must we have?

However, to state your strategy in a sentence, you just need to focus on the first three questions: winning aspiration, where to play, and how to win. With that structure, you get the format:

Achieve [Winning Aspiration] in [Where to Play] by [How to Win].

Breaking it down:

  • Winning Aspiration. The winning aspiration needs to describe a clear win that is future-oriented, ambitious, specific (thus measurable), contains a competitive element, and avoids a play-to-play goal.
  • Where to Play. The Where to Play needs some element of market segmentation, you satisfy the entire market.
  • How to Win. The How to Win needs to capture your organization’s unique and defensible value proposition and your competitive advantage.

Here are some examples:

  • We want to lead the U.S. luxury performance sedan segment by offering higher quality and competitive design for one-third less.
  • We want to have a top-ranked 5-star property in every market that will support a luxury hotel by providing a home-away-from-home, office-away-from-office experience.
  • We want to capture the short-haul air travel market with high-frequency flights and efficient service to secondary airports at a price that rivals driving.

Hopefully, you didn’t need to be told “Lexus,” “Four Seasons,” or “Southwest Airlines.”

So, get with your leadership team and develop your one-sentence strategy. Once you have all agreed on it, ensure it has clarity. Then, as Lencioni says, over-communicate it to your firm, customers, suppliers, etc. With everyone focused on the same goal, you are more likely to achieve it!

 

Copyright (c) 2021, Marc A. Borrelli

 

Recent Posts

The Downfall of Boeing: A Lesson in Core Values

The Downfall of Boeing: A Lesson in Core Values

Boeing’s 737 Max issues highlighted the company’s sacrifice of safety for financial performance, resulting in a tarnished reputation. The prioritization of profit over core values also damaged the FAA’s credibility and revealed a lack of accountability for top executives. This downfall serves as a reminder of the importance of maintaining core values and prioritizing them over short-term financial gains.

Resolutions, Here We Go Again.

Resolutions, Here We Go Again.

In reflecting on 2021 resolutions, the author scored themselves in three categories and sought to improve success in 2022 by addressing friction points. Drawing on advice from social psychologist Wendy Wood, the author identified areas to reduce or increase friction in their failed resolutions. By making these adjustments, the author aims to enhance their goal achievement and encourages others to consider friction when setting resolutions.

Understanding and Optimizing Your Cash Conversion Cycle

Understanding and Optimizing Your Cash Conversion Cycle

Understanding and optimizing the Cash Conversion Cycle is crucial for business growth, as it impacts cash flow and the ability to access external capital. This cycle consists of four components: Sales, Make/Production & Inventory, Delivery, and Billing and Payments. To improve the Cash Conversion Cycle, companies can eliminate mistakes, shorten cycle times, and revamp their business models.

Discovering Your Niche: Why You Need to Be Famous for Something

Discovering Your Niche: Why You Need to Be Famous for Something

As an entrepreneur, it’s crucial to specialize in a specific area and become famous for something, allowing you to generate referrals and build your brand. Understanding the “job” you’re hired for helps you stand out in the marketplace and communicate your value proposition effectively. By providing value to your clients, you can adopt a value-based pricing approach, ensuring your business remains competitive and maintains a strong market presence.

Rethinking Your Pricing Model: Maximizing Margins and Providing Value

Rethinking Your Pricing Model: Maximizing Margins and Providing Value

Rethink your pricing model by focusing on the value you provide and your customers’ Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA). This approach can help you maximize margins while delivering better value to your clients. Assess your offerings and brainstorm with your team to identify pricing adjustment opportunities or eliminate commodity products or services.

Do you know your Profit per X to drive dramatic growth?

Do you know your Profit per X to drive dramatic growth?

I recently facilitated a workshop with several CEOs where we worked on the dramatic business growth model components. One of the questions that I had asked them beforehand was, "What is Your Profit/X?" The results showed that there this concept is not clear to many....

The War for Talent: 5 Ways to Attract the Best Employees

The War for Talent: 5 Ways to Attract the Best Employees

In today’s War for Talent, attracting the best employees requires a focus on value creation, core customer, brand promise, and value delivery. Clearly articulate your company’s mission, identify your “core employee” based on shared values, and offer more than just a salary to stand out as an employer. Utilize employee satisfaction metrics and showcase your company’s commitment to its workforce on your website to make a strong impression on potential candidates.

Are you killing your firm’s WFH productivity?

Are you killing your firm’s WFH productivity?

Productivity remained during WFH with COVID. However, further analysis found that hourly productivity fell and was compensated for by employees working more hours. What was the culprit – Meetings. Want to increase productivity, have fewer meetings.