How to Be Strategic — Part I
<h1>The Stigma Around Strategy</h1>
<p>When I say the word “strategy”… what comes to mind?</p>
<p>For many, the word conjures up imagery of a tense boardroom full of important people and high-powered leadership debates about <a href="https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-this-is-how-successful-people-make-such-smart-decisions.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">“one-way door” choices</a>: Entering a new market, buying another company, or making some big, irreversible investment. The kind of choices accompanied by lots of PowerPoint slides with perfectly-formatted bar graphs and squint-worthy footnotes of legalese in small font.</p>
<p><strong>You know, executive stuff.</strong></p>
<p>An example: Ever seen <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615147/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Margin Call</a>? (If not, and if you are even the least bit interested in the world of finance and investing, please add it to your list.) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhy7JUinlu0" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">The movie’s pivotal scene features </a>a midnight meeting of an investment bank’s leadership team. They are facing a crisis, and the stakes are high. They have just discovered a time bomb hidden within their balance sheet: Billions of dollars of toxic mortgage-backed securities threatening not only their company’s solvency, but the stability of the entire global financial system. Times are tough.</p>
<p>The well-dressed team of finance execs (featuring a brilliantly-cast Jeremy Irons and also <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0048932/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">that guy from The Mentalist</a>) weigh their options (none of which are particularly encouraging) and nervously discuss which action they should take before the sun comes up. <strong>This is strategy at its theatrical best: Hard choices with grave consequences made by senior people in expensive leather chairs.</strong> There’s heaps of ego, analysis, debate, and conflict to go around. There’s an “oh shit” moment and a race to formulate a plan. The clock is ticking.</p>
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