What is Strategy?

Some one recently asked me ‘what is strategy?’ I take pleasure in answering fundamental questions like this because they help me think clear and simple.

As I drove home that evening in the dark, with snow on the road and poor visibility the question was the last thing on my mind. The next day I ran into the same person again and he asked me ‘so what is the answer?’. We walked to the cafeteria and along the way I started to articulate my answer.

I though of my ride home and all the CHOICES I had to make:
* Which route to take?
* Whether to ride home in my car or taking public transport?
* The amount of gas in the car?
* Which roads were open and which blocked?
* News of cleaning crew and emergency arteries that had been cleaned up?
* My cars capabilities (front wheel drive)?
* The phone numbers I needed to carry in case I had to call some one for help (AAA, friends)?

The list went on… I though this would be the best answer I could formulate to help explain what is strategy? I started with “Strategy is ESTABLISHMENT of GOALS and CHOICES to meet those goals bound by capabilities and the environment around”. The next question was “so what is planning?”, interesting! I thought over the same problem again, but this time my response was immediate, “Planning it is the selection of an OPTION/ALTERNATIVE that BEST MEETS the goal and the ensuing steps to deliver the objectives in the simplest and most efficient manner”.

The answers for the most part had done their job, but then came another follow through, so is strategy all about data? A common misconception people have is to often confuse strategy and analysis to business intelligence. Strategy takes data for input, trends, market dynamics, regulatory constraints, short term objectives but the transformation of this Business Intelligence/Business data into knowledge to establish alternatives is strategy.

Brewing this data simply in a coffee pot of even a cauldron is not going to do much, it takes leaders and visionary business gurus and analysts to understand, interpret and evaluate the information to extract knowledge. This brewing together together of my options with those of others likely to be on the road, and my needs and wants and finally the alternatives available to me.

No system can ever replace the beautiful and so complicated human mind!