# 77: Strategy Stays!
By: Silke Schmidt
Tags: Henry Mintzberg, Strategy, Founders, Books, Startup

Mintzberg, Henry, Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joseph Lampel (1998). Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management, 15.

Story behind the Passage

I love strategy. Yes, that might sound old-fashioned but I am convinced strategy is important — and will remain important. The thing that I am seeing these days is that many are claiming that strategies are for the trash because the world changes so rapidly that no strategy will ever be implemented. I think, as usually, the opposite is true. We need strategy more than ever because organizations do not get anywhere without it. And, yes, they might end up somewhere else than they expected at first. Still, without it, they would end up nowhere at all. Or worse, they would disappear. I think, this is the major issue that is ruining many startups.

Obviously, my present thinking about strategy made me pick Strategy Safari by Mintzberg and his colleagues today. I even remember when I learned about it. It was during my short time in strategy consulting (as an employed junior consultant, I mean). My boss talked about the book. I do not even think I read it immediately. But I did read it for the last book I wrote. Not only do I love Mintzberg’s work in general, I especially like how the book uses storytelling in words and illustrations. If you look at words and images as two sides of a coin — one analytical and one visionary, this explains exactly why I am insisting on the importance of strategy crafting so much. You need a strategy to balance the two.

My Learnings

“The main role of strategy is to chart the course of an organization in order for it so sail cohesively through its environment.” I like the sailing metaphor. Every organization is a ship — be it big or small, be it a sailboat or a cruise ship. The point is: You need direction! You need it in order to move in the first place. Instead of just thinking about “success” or “profit” as direction of some sort, I also want to throw in the concept of purpose here. Yes, purpose also gives you direction.

But the concept of “direction” needs more explaining, I think. Direction, from my perspective, is always related to some value base. If you say you want to help people solve problem x, then this is your direction. Every question or request that comes up needs to fall into this problem category. If it does not, strategy helps you say “no.” If it does but you do not have the proper means or product to tackle this specific problem, this is your chance to show how quickly you can respond by coming up with a new solution. Whatever this solution looks like, if you make sure it makes your client happy, then you are on track.

This also means that the issue of the environment is important, of course. But does all the talk about Agile and digital disruption really mean that strategy is superfluous? I really do not think so. Instead, I am convinced that strategy helps you navigate in a changing environment more than ever. I am not saying this because I am so talented at being “stable,” whatever that might mean. I understand the challenge of but also the fascination with constant change and the need for flexibility. Still, what I observe is that this often ends up in some “over-adaptability.” To be even more provocative: A quickly changing environment can become an excuse for no strategy at all.

This is dangerous and leads to all the bullshit talk in the startup world that some hardcore investors also like to employ in order to align founders according to their personal goals.

“While direction is important, sometimes it is better to move slowly, a little bit at a time, looking carefully but not too far ahead, as well as to each side, so that behavior can be shifted at a moment’s notice.” This is partly what I said above already. But there are two aspects that require more attention: speed and shifts. Reducing speed seems to be so out of the question for startups that any interruption is interpreted as inefficiency.

The opposite is true, I think.

Taking some time to think has never done any harm to people, especially decision makers. But founders usually realize this when it is too late already, at least for their current venture. This goes along with not looking left and right. Again, if you take no time to pause for an instant, looking left and right is a difficult thing to do. What results from this is a tunnel vision that celebrates the focus on growth as the only “valuable” thing to achieve.

What is so stupid about this is that all great entrepreneurs in the world, at least the ones that I have come to study and know in person, are people with such a large field of vision — with respect to business topics and many other things that move the world. If you just focus on your tiny field of expertise, this ability to even notice that there are things to your left and right gets lost or is never attained. This, sooner or later, will make you hit the iceberg that might already be very close.

I really wonder how important the lack of strategic discipline, as I would call it, is for the entire startup disaster. From what I am seeing, the lack of awareness that strategy is something like an achievement of humanity is quite widespread. When I say achievement of humanity, I really mean: brain. Yes, learning by doing and agility are important. But we should not forget that it meant a breakthrough in political philosophy when things started getting more organized. In order to organize, you need some sort of plan. In order to come up with a plan, you need strategy. Yes, it can change and be replaced by a different one. Nevertheless, strategy keeps you going.

All this is especially important for individual founders. Yes, the company as an entity that consists of all the different people is at the center of attention. But the founders steer this ship. And they as individuals need to know what their role is — their contribution. This can only happen if strategy serves as a compass to them — everyone of them individually. Their motivation to go the extra mile and their sense of purpose relies on the ability to keep track of actual results, real achievements. This requires a baseline. And this baseline is drawn by strategy. Therefore, strategy will stay. Otherwise, it would not have survived for more than two millennia since Sun Tzi wrote the following words in The Art of War in 500 B.C.

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat” — Sun Tzu

Reflection Questions

1) Are you a strategic thinker? Why/not?

2) How do you think about the thesis that strategy is especially important for startups/young companies?

3) Do you think that the (failed) responses to Covid by governments around the world show that strategy has little to no value in times in which natural or man-made disasters strike without warning?