How would you explain the term “strategy” to a child?

Once I heard that if I couldn’t explain what I do for a living to a six-year-old child, I knew nothing about that. It made me think about…

Once I heard that if I couldn’t explain what I do for a living to a six-year-old child, I knew nothing about that. It made me think about how I would tell kids about business strategy, and then I had a couple of chances to test my ideas. So that’s how I do this.

Pottery factory

Imagine that you decided to earn some money, so you buy some clay, make a pot, and sell it. You sold the pot for a higher price than you bought the clay, didn’t you? You can do it because you have added value to the clay. Nobody needs clay, but many people need pots.

You see it as a business opportunity. So you buy more clay and make more pots. You create value for your customers, and they are ready to pay.

But then you notice that people need more pots than you can make alone. So, you hire workers to help you. You pay them a salary and provide good working conditions, so now you create value for them also. If you don’t, they will go to make pots somewhere else.

Then you notice that people don’t want to buy simple c…