What is strategy, exactly? And are you aware that you need different types of strategy at different levels within your organization?
Strategy has been studied for years by business leaders and business theorists. Yet, there is no definitive answer about what strategy really is.
The main reason for this is that people think about strategy in different ways.
Some people for instance, believe that you must analyse the present carefully, anticipate changes in your market or industry, and, from this, plan how you’ll succeed in the future. Meanwhile, others think that the future is just too difficult to predict, and they prefer to evolve their strategies organically.
Michael Porter, a strategy expert and professor at Harvard Business School, emphasizes the need for strategy to define and communicate an organization’s unique position, and says that it should determine how organizational resources, skills, and competencies should be combined to create competitive advantage.
In business, corporate strategy refers to the overall strategy of an organization that is made up of multiple business units, operating in multiple markets. It determines how the corporation as a whole supports and enhances the value of the business units within it; and it answers the question, “How do we structure the overall business, so that all of its parts create more value together than they would individually?”
Corporations can do this by building strong internal competences, by sharing technologies and resources between business units, by raising capital cost-effectively, by developing and nurturing a strong corporate brand, and so on.
So, at this level of strategy, we’re concerned with thinking about how the business units within the corporation should fit together, and understanding how resources should be deployed to create the greatest possible value. Tools like Porter’s Generic Strategies, the Boston Matrix, the ADL Matrix and VRIO Analysis will help with this type of high-level analysis and planning.
The organization’s design is another important strategic factor that needs to be considered at this level. How you structure your business, your people, and other resources – all of these affect competitive advantage and can support your strategic goals.
All these are the very well know theories, right? Now I will tell you my theory which is not very common but quite simple to apply in our daily life.
We apply strategy every day in any aspect of our life without even knowing about it. As I say every day to my kids, we pitch every day so we need to be aware of what we are pitching because they will lead us to current situation. We create our daily life, what happens that is beyond our control well we just need to be calm and handle them with the best way we can, having faith also can help us get through hardships.
Life is a game like in finance where I have my financial coaching program called “MONOPOLY PLAN Strategy for me is the way we mark down the road in order to get to our destination. Like when we were children and we were playing in the fields with guns. That was my favourite game – not much of a girly one. I remember myself hiding behind the tree, thinking strategically which my next move should be in order to get my enemy. No wonder that my favorite game n PS4 is Mortal Combat. Life is a battle and we choose how to play.
My moves
I knew exactly my goal: To win the battle.
How would I win the battle though? By getting down my enemies, killing them and capturing as hostages the remaining. I would start from their captain in order to make them lose their courage and get disappointed. It’s easier to get your enemy when they have a broken confidence and no leader to follow right?
Action – Observing their moves and at the same time being aware of my down position with my strengths and weaknesses.
Then I empower my weaknesses and make the next move.
In my head I had already set up my moves. It’s like I had lived that battle before and knew what I should do, which is what we call nowadays visualization.
Get the enemies and win the battle. Boom mission accomplished. I didn’t use to cry when I didn’t win, but I was really pissed off because as a child I hated to lose. I was sitting down for hours though re-thinking again and again my moves in order to understand what I did wrong and didn’t win.
In a few words, this is what I call a strategy.
Set your target
Be adaptable
Be flexible
Be creative with no ego issues
Observe and study your market
Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses
Be aware of your position
“See” your moves in your head – Perform
Niccolo Machiavelli was a big influencer for me regarding strategy and I will share one of my favorite lines. In order to conquer country you need to be in that country! In business terms it means you need to be in the market! You need to be out there.
Act and never stop trying until you get your goal. You should never change your goal; change or better adapt your strategy and action methods based on the facts you have. The goal should remain the same. For example a client’s goal was making a lot of money. There are many ways to make money right? But the goal will always be ‘making money’, no matter how many methods are going to be used. For example my goal was never starve again and provide my kids everything I could, money was the result my efforts. Money was never my goal, but a well-being lifestyle was. As I mentioned before it’s a game and I like winning.
When I deliver my transformational speeches in mastering your mind, many people say to me that I talk in a very simple way. My answer is that everything is too simple; it’s just us – humans – that complicate everything. Less is more and perfection is simplicity – these are my rules for the last few years. I have been analysing and overthinking for years, but as Albert Einstein said “If you keep doing what you are doing, don’t expect anything to change”. My life changed completely from the moment I managed to master my own mind and having the control of my own behaviour. We can’t control others but we can definitely control ourselves. We can do anything with proper strategy and methods, but at the same time with elimination of fear and stress. But never forget: Change or better say adapt your strategy and methods like being a chameleon not your goals! Be like water and flow and do whatever it takes to get to your destination. It doesn’t matter how long will take you. Dont focus on time but focus how to utilize time.