Strategy Is Not About Deciding What To Be

This is a dangerous misconception.

I plan to live forever. So far, everything is going according to plan

Author unknown

“Strategy is about deciding what to be.” 

I spotted this idea in one of my fellow strategist’s posts on LinkedIn. 

And I believe this is a dangerous misconception.

Strategic thinking biases – part 3

Picture by maselkoo99, purchased on iStock

It’s not about ambitions

Frank Underwood, the main character of the first five seasons of House of Cards, is a very unpleasant man. He is definitely not the person you would hold up as an example to your children.

But what makes him so disgusting? Is it the fact that he’s ready to do everything for the power, including killing or framing people?

Would Underwood be nicer if he hadn’t broken laws or violated moral principles? I don’t think so. At the end of the article, I’ll explain why. 

According to a survey, 51% of men and 38% of women said they were “very” or “extremely” ambitious – while 23% of women and 16% of men called themselves “not so ambitious,” or denied being ambitious altogether (source). 

So, half of men and many women are ambitious. And being ambitious implies knowing very well what they would like to be. 

But are they successful?

We may define success through different metrics. But common sense tells us that most people live their lives without becoming superstars in what they do. 

Aren’t they ambitious enough? It seems they are. 

Up to 90% of startups don’t make it to their fifth birthday. Yet most startup founders are ambitious. Otherwise, they’d have found a quiet job. 

Therefore, having ambitions isn’t enough. Moreover, if all we have is ambitions, our odds for success are lower. 

“Strategy is about deciding what to be.”

Such an approach leads to the appearance of stillborn strategies. 

And it happens not because we are too bold. And not because we underestimate external conditions or don’t do our analysis and planning homework. 

It happens because dreaming about being bigger contradicts the very idea of business. 

In August, I published a post about the nature of business – it implies exchange.

We create value for customers and try to trade it for money (it’s an oversimplification, of course, but it is generally true). 

So, we create first and get rich later – if we’re lucky. 

And strategy is not about deciding what to be. It is about deciding what to give. 

What do our customers want? What value can we create for them? Answers to these questions will determine what we will be.

Our ambitions don’t determine our future. The ability to give people what they need does. 

I never start strategic discussions that I facilitate with a bold vision or goals. They can help us raise the bar and inspire team members. But they may lead us astray from the key question: What will we offer and to whom?

And Frank Underwood wouldn’t become a nicer person even if he had used more conventional methods to become President of the USA. He didn’t want to give. All he wanted was to get.