What is Strategy?

In a recent presentation entitled Dollars and Sense: Business Strategies for Marketing that Sells, a participant asked what the difference was between a Vision and a Strategy. At the time, I have to admit, I didn't have a clear answer. I used my curiosity to look up what others had to say.

Some expert sources, like the Harvard Business Review and the Ivey Business Journal, have slightly different definitions of what a corporate strategy is. However, after reviewing a number of business strategy sites, I realize that strategy is the "umbrella" that captures all the pieces of why a business exists and the direction in which it is heading.

The vision is the ideal state that the business would like to see, in the world as a whole, independent of its actions. This definition of vision departs from traditional definitions of the term. Why? Because businesses that aim to do more than make lots of money know that they have to be an integral part of our overall society. I had the privilege of hearing the Dalai Lama speak in Seattle on April 14th to a group of business leaders and local policy makers. The Dalai Lama and all of the presenters agree -- it's no longer enough to give lip service to being involved in the community. Corporate "social responsibility" is dead. A growing consciousness of the connectedness of the world demands a corporate morality and compassion that looks at vision as an ideal state of being for the world as a whole.

Companies no longer operate in a vacuum, so vision statements can no longer be just about the vision for your company. Businesses both large and small are responsible for all of their actions and their impact on our world. Our visions must be larger than ourselves. Conscious companies have strategies that capture that vision, map out a mission that says how they're going to bring about that change in the world, declare a position, and live up to a set of core values.

Once the foundations of a corporate strategy have been built, it's up to the company to execute the strategy in a way that upholds the vision, mission, values, and position. Strategy is meaningless without execution.

We hope that our vision of companies empowered with the confidence to always put their best foot forward comes through in all that we do. If you would like to discuss this more, please post a comment or join us on May 20th for our workshop, The Strategy String. We'll help small businesses refine their strategy and link it to marketing-specific execution and tactics.