“You need to be strategic”

How many times have you heard or even said a phrase like “Sally isn’t very strategic?” Or “Linus is the most strategic person on the team?” You probably hear phrases like that several times a day. 

Recently I’ve tried using those phrases or simply the word “strategic” a little more sparingly. Seems odd coming from someone who routinely challenges her teams to think and act (and hire for) more strategically. But after hearing/saying it a whole bunch in a conversation, I paused. Has the word “strategy” become prosaic? What do we mean when we say “be more strategic?” Do we use it to deflect the real issues at hand?

I went on a mini-quest to define what I mean by strategic to ensure I’m more purposeful and legitimate when I use it.

In search of a definition for strategy
Dictionaries of all sorts, particularly the online versions, provide pleasantly benign definitions of strategy somewhere in the flavor of “a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result.” I looked to books from icons like Aaker, Ries, Trout and Porter for a tidy definition, tapped into a few of military history books, listened to colleagues and consulted with Dr. Google, too. I found plenty of tidy and benign definitions.

It was only after reading ye olde printed Webster’s (circa 1982) that I found my inspiration for how to define strategic. My adapted textbook definition is skill in maneuvering your brand into the most advantageous position prior to actual engagement with the customer. Great. Now with a definition, what I really need to do is better define what “being strategic” means.

The right brain and left brain work together
For me, being strategic is a collaboration of the right brain and the left brain. It’s not a linear process, because there is as much creativity as there is critical thinking. Since logic is involved, we always have to think about the good and bad consequences that go with the, ahem, stratagem.

Building from my textbook definition, “being strategic” means being skillful at distilling market data, observation and experience into hypotheses for gaining competitive advantages, which are then evaluated against brand objectives and potential outcomes before choosing the course of action.

Or in everyday language, being strategic is:

Shaping options for competitive advantage based on what we learn and evaluating them so everyone is sure they can achieve the goals.

Now I’m ready to use “be more strategic” with purpose and confidence. I’m ready to challenge critics on what they mean when they tell me “Sally needs to be more strategic.” I know what it means. Do they think it means the same thing? How do you define “being strategic?”

P.S. For those who say “strategic objectives,” stop it. There are no strategic objectives. Objectives are objectives, and strategy helps achieve objectives.