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Strategy is making hard choices in advance in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty, to overcome challenges or to pursue opportunities that we can win. 

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This is a definition I assembled through a continually evolving understanding of strategy*.    

What strategy is not

Strategy is not a vision statement or a mission statement. Strategy is not a goal or a BHAG or only the winning aspiration. Strategy is not generic, e.g. being customer first. Because strategy is about making hard choices to overcome a challenge or to pursue an opportunity by deeply understanding it and finding its crux.  

Strategy is not a business model. A business model has been defined as a set of choices that its leadership made and the set of consequences derived from those choices, or in other words, ““the way the firm operates” … today. It is not about making hard choices in advance in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty.

Sustainable strategy  

A sustainable strategy is a strategy that cannot or will not be undermined by a response or replication by competitors or other players. (Can’t/won’t test)

Or more simply, making hard choices in advance that will enable us to win, despite a competitive response. For sustainability, consider the time frame of a response, which implies the time frame of a strategy. At tech startups I have worked at, the time frame for an overall product strategy is typically 1-3 years ahead, which is a manageable level of ambiguity and uncertainty (a review of the strategy at least twice a year is useful, because the number and mix of challenges and opportunities change in dynamic markets). 

So, strategy is making hard choices in advance in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty, to overcome challenges or to pursue opportunities that we can win. 

PS: Check out more articles on building products. I write to pay it forward and to clarify my thinking.

* Sources