strategy has been on my brain

Started teaching strategy at Emory six years ago. Sure, there were glimpses of strategy in my consulting deliverables, but now I am paid to think about it all day.  I am either reading, talking, debating, or questioning business strategy all day.

Yes, strategy frameworks. . .  

• Strategy as a set of activities, a virtuous cycle, a flywheel; path-dependent decisions accreting 
• Strategy is about choices; involving trade-offs, not a collection of “me-too” best practices 
• Strategy = economic moat; protected from new entrants (thanks, Warren Buffett)
• Strategy is strategic positioning; where in the industry do you want to set up shop? A position of advantage – like a castle on a hill, so your customers self-select and find you, and rivals would be crazy to try and copy you 
• Strategy is coping with competition from rivals, suppliers, customers, new entrants
• Strategy is about raising barriers to entry: network effects, economies of scale, switching costs, customer loyalty 
• Strategy emerges as managers make smart decisions and win (hello Mintzberg) 
• Strategy uses your embedded awesomeness that others can’t easily copy
• Strategy is not planning; if it’s not scary, your strategy is probably no good (hat-tip Roger Martin)
• Strategy is more like poker (probabilities, luck, leadership) than chess (yes, Annie Duke)  

Yes, I could go on because I love this stuff. I could write a Charles Dickens-length novel on strategy frameworks (yes, he was paid by the page, that’s why his books are so long), but I think we can simplify this a lot.

Strategy comes down to:

• Knowing yourself (what is “winning?” and what you are awesome at)
• Loving on specific customers (think: STP) that are willing-to-pay and grow with you
• Amplifying your strengths and digging a WIDE economic moat around your work, profits
• Saying “No” a lot and being picky on how you use your most valuable resource (a.k.a. time)
• Getting leverage; small input big output; where are you an alchemist?
• Being stubborn on the purpose and principles (long-term); being flexible with process

1. Learn the rules like a pro. . .

Love this quote from Pablo Picasso:  Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.

• Yes, know the basics (read: best practices)
• Yes, be hungry and humble enough to learn
• Yes, learning has an architecture, sequence
• Yes, it takes time; your first bike ride is definitely not your most elegant
• Yes, learning for yourself is important; it’s not all Google and ChatGPT

2. So you can break them like an artist. . .

• No, you can’t be all things to all people
• No one pays $$$,$$$ for average, weak tea
• The status quo can change; the economy, the  customers, the competitors, even yourself
• FOMO (fear of missing out) is not helpful
• Your individuality is your advantage; sharpen it

3. What’s your unfair advantage 

Yes, strategy is about finding and using your unfair advantage. Finding what is uniquely yours. Playing your own game. Spending the time to develop yourself so that you are “so good, they can’t ignore you.” Becoming a category of 1.

3a. Unfair = you know the customer

I first heard the expression “unfair advantage” in 2007 from a consulting partner (BL) who was explaining why random request-for-proposals (RFP) were a waste of time. If it’s random, then you don’t have a proprietary insight or relationship. You are one of many companies. Essentially, you are a commodity, like a bag of unremarkable potatoes.  

3b. Unfair = you know the topic

You are an expert. You’ve done research. You did your PhD on this topic. You’ve interviewed people by the dozen. You’ve listened podcasts by the hundreds. You read articles and reports, “<right click> save” by the hundreds. 

3c. Unfair = you’ve Done this before

Learning curve; you’ve made silly mistakes.  As Ben Franklin said, “Experience is the teacher of all things, and an expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”  

3d. Unfair = you’ve got resources

You are set up for success. You know where to look for data, information, analysis, and insights. You have templates, tools, process diagrams, checklists, or SOP (standard operating procedures). You have underutilized staff who can accelerate your work at a marginal cost approaching $. You’ve got people.

3e. Unfair = you’ve got a point-of-view

You have something to say because you’ve thought deeply about the problem: 

• You understand the scope/frame of the problem; like finding the edges of a jigsaw puzzle first
• You’ve decomposed the messy data it into buckets; like sorting puzzle pieces by color
• You have “strong opinions, loosely held”, you’re willing to be wrong because you’ve gained confidence through the studying

This is the opposite of copy/paste ChatGPT query of best practices. 

3f. Unfair = you care

This is more rare than you think. Very few people treat their work as if it were their own business. Of the last 10 people you interacted with, how many of them would be “in business” if they sold their work, their attitude, their responsiveness, their emails, their answers in a marketplace?  People buy from people; clients want professionals who care.

3g. Unfair = you have results

I’ve already listed a half-dozen reasons you are awesome, and if you’re that good, you’ve probably got results. Your resume is solid, full of PAR (problem-activity-result) bullet points that attest to your work. You have more client references and stories than you have time to talk about them. You are a NBA (national basketball) star with stats.

I am increasingly of the belief that with the fragmentation of the supply chain, digitization of everything, panoply of suppliers who can take care of you, anything without an edge will quickly become common place, best practices, a me-too situation. Operational efficiency is a prerequisite for long-term success, but entirely insufficient.

3h. Unfair = you have a reputation

You have staked out a strategic position:

• Clients know what they are getting; they are looking forward to being WOW’ed by you
• Rivals avoid attacking you head-on; they would rather hunt elsewhere
• People want to work with you, learn from you

How can I find my unfair advantage?

I don’t have a monopoly on good ideas.  This is n=1, but some questions that I’ve found helpful:

1. What are you uniquely good at?  What comes easy to you and hard for others?
2. What do people often seek your advice about? What do you know and have experienced?
3. What do you care about? What do you geek out on, spend time on, spend money on?
4. What are you willing to spend 3-5 years getting really good at, if you knew that you could XYZ?
5. What kind of projects, work, art have you sold in the past?
6. How frequently are you putting your work, art, deliverables on display for customers to react to?
7. Which 10 people do you admire and want to learn from? When is the last time you sought their advice?
8. What combination of skills can I mix together to be a category, n=1?  (e.g., foreign language + finance + modern art)
9. What are the last 3 good ideas that you didn’t act on, that you see people turning into businesses?
10. Who are your advocates? Who is pushing you in the direction of your talents and gritty work?
11. How do you think work is changing? Wanna bet?  If so, then go and do that NOW, before others go.
12. How are you wired? On a scale of 1 (low risk) – 10 (risk taker), how would you evaluate your risk appetite?
13. Financially, how much time does your balance sheet allow for you to learn, experiment, get better?
14. What should you stop doing to free up 15 hours a week, so you can double-down on your strengths?
15. What should you say “no” to; so you can say “hell yes” to something else (hat tip: Derek Sivers)