Strategy Is About What You Don’t Do

Strategy is what allows you to say “no” to the things you shouldn’t do.

Most people think of “strategy” as the guiding principle for what they and their business do—a roadmap that defines who they are and where they’re headed. Most people don’t approach a strategy offsite thinking that they’ll be spending time talking about where their business isn’t heading. But it’s important to remember that good strategy work allows you to have an effective framework for making decisions about what you don’t want to be doing as well as what you do intend to do.

Strategy is what allows you to say “no” to the things you shouldn’t do. Tweet This Quote

It’s critically important to make sure you create a strategy that can be used in this way. It’s easy to get carried away in strategy work and create something so broad and overreaching that pretty much anything you can think of could theoretically be “on strategy.” The single most common reason for company failure—and this is true whether your business is an app company or providing some social service half way across the world—is lack of focus.

Knowing what you don’t do is just as important (perhaps even more important) than what you do do.