If you want something–anything–for you or your organization, build a strategy to get there. To do this, first answer these three questions:
- What is? What is true right now?
- What do I/we want it to be? What do I/we want to be true in the future? How will we know we’ve succeeded?
- Why? Why do I/we want this? What makes it compelling?
Then answer the next three questions, “How?,” “When?,” and “Who?”
If you are struggling to set a strategy that will work for you or your organization, you may be trying to answer the questions in the wrong order.
You can tell because your answers will start with the phrase, “Yeah, but…” (As in, “You could start your own business!” “Yeah, but, I don’t know anything about starting a business.” OR “We could service the Millennials with a unique set of products.” “Yeah, but, our competitors are already doing that.”) “Yeah, buts” kill too many of the best strategies.