Most abused word in business today – ‘Strategy’

20 Comments / Business, Consulting, Innovation, Strategy / By

*originally published on LinkedIn on Feb 18, 2017*

If you are engaged in business in any form on this planet, you must have encountered at least one of the following situations:

  • The implicit (or sometimes explicit) urge or push to include the word ‘strategy’ somehow in slide headline of a corporate presentation
  • Somebody sharing his/her designation in a conversation and putting special emphasis on the word ‘strategy’
  • Somebody describing what one does and using the word ‘strategy’ after every fourth word
  • Corporate meetings where business leaders make sure that they utter the word ‘Strategy’ at least twice

Recruiters selling a job by saying that this is a Strategy role

There will be many more instances of the usage of word ‘strategy’, enough to ensure that you hear the word at least once during weekdays and sometimes during weekends too!

Let us look at the dictionary meaning of the word strategy. Dictionary.com describes Strategy as “the science or art of combining and employing the means of war in planning and directing large military movements and operations“. The Merrian Webstar dictionary explains strategy as “the science and art of employing the political, economic, psychological, and military forces of a nation or group of nations to afford the maximum support to adopted policies in peace or war or  the science and art of military command exercised to meet the enemy in combat under advantageous conditions”.

If we look at the origins of the word and its meaning and then we look at the way we use it nowadays, we will come to the conclusion that “The most abused word in business today is – Strategy”

With the rise of internet economy and new-age startups, who deployed non-traditional tactics (not strategy!) for growth, the word strategy gained stardom. B-schools were the first ones to get addicted to Strategy. Suddenly we had a new field of study in management and courses in strategy. Industry stalwarts started using the word in every conversation. Companies started setting up teams which has the word strategy it it. Strategy became the biggest corporate Sex Symbol.

Let’s look at deconstructing the usage of strategy in business today and where we make mistakes. Though strategy is a military word but in business it means to set a high level plan to achieve the vision after ‘x’ years, ‘x’ depends on the dynamism of the industry. It is about deciding what we want to become as a company and how do we think we should go about achieving that goal.

There are three levels of planning – Strategic, tactical and operational. The difference between these planning types lie in the scope and time horizon. Strategy encompasses the whole company and is for 3 or 5 years (depending on industry). Tactical planning is how the strategic planning gets broken into different departments or teams. It says what a team or department needs to do and how to do it so that the company achieves its vision. Operational planning is the most granular unit of planning where the time horizon is a quarter or a month. It outlines the daily or weekly activities, which usually are measured quarterly for tracking progress.

In light of these planning types, we realise that most of the strategy that we talk or write about is actually tactics or operational planning. Ideally the top leadership should actually set the strategy which needs to be broken down to tactics and operations by the rest of company depending on span of control and influence. Except the top leadership, everybody’s role is in tactics and operations. In this mad rush to bring out a strategic angle to the tactical work that corporates do, people forget the most important thing – focus on execution. Lack of bias for action and execution is detrimental to a company. While thinking strategic is important, what is much more important and critical is executing the strategy. Without execution even the best strategy is useless.

So next time you give in to the urge of using the word strategy when you communicate in your corporate life, think twice whether it is strategy. Focus more on tactical and operational planning and execution. For 95% of the corporate workforce these are the most value added activities. Strategy may be Sexy but let’s hold on to our libido!

20 thoughts on “Most abused word in business today – ‘Strategy’”

  1. zoritoler imol

    Excellent post. I was checking continuously this blog and I’m inspired! Very helpful info specially the ultimate section 🙂 I maintain such information much. I used to be seeking this particular information for a long time. Thanks and good luck.

  2. zoritoler imol

    Thanks , I have recently been looking for information about this subject for ages and yours is the greatest I have discovered so far. But, what about the bottom line? Are you sure about the source?

  4. zoritoler imol

    Thanks for the marvelous posting! I actually enjoyed reading it, you happen to be a great author.I will make sure to bookmark your blog and definitely will come back in the future. I want to encourage you continue your great job, have a nice evening!

  6. coupon

    Hi, i think that i saw you visited my website thus i came to “return the favor”.I’m attempting to find things to enhance my web site!I
    suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!

    Also visit my page … coupon

  17. The Best Things to do in Rizhao (China)

    I was just seeking this info for some time. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your website. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this type of informative sites in top of the list. Generally the top websites are full of garbage.

  18. Top Places to Holiday in Mogadishu (Somalia)

    Thanks for sharing excellent informations. Your website is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you have on this blog. It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for more articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found simply the info I already searched everywhere and just couldn’t come across. What a perfect web-site.

Comments are closed.