Strategy

The decision about what to do and, harder, what not to. Everything downstream is only the execution of this one choice.

Strategy is the allocation of finitude. Because the company cannot do everything, it must choose what to do, and the choice is only real if something desirable is refused. A strategy with no losers among its options is a wish list wearing a suit.

The everyday test is whether it forbids anything. Show the strategy a tempting opportunity and watch: if the answer is always yes, there is no strategy, only appetite. Downstream, good strategy is felt as calm; teams stop relitigating direction and argue only about execution, which is the argument worth having.