Strategy is not complex. But it is hard.
It’s hard because it forces you to make specific choices about the future. Choices about what you will do and what you will not do.
In our opinion, based on working with many clients, the most difficult question in building a winning strategy is: Where will you play to win?
This question is difficult because it forces leaders to make a decision that closes down options. Many leaders that we have worked with want to keep their options open. We often hear those leaders say words to the effect of: “But I don’t want to limit us to just one playing field.”
The tendency to want to keep all options open appears to be a safe one. However having focus is a key to winning. If your target market is “everyone” or your geographic choice is “everywhere” or “all capital cities” then you haven’t yet come to terms with the need to choose.
It can be easy to dismiss new and different where to play choices as risky, or misaligned with the current revenue base and customers. Yet many businesses that we work with have stalled or have slowed growth because they are trying to be everything to everyone.
Where to play to win is about understanding the possible playing fields and choosing between them. Rather than attempting to serve everyone everywhere you should identify a strong set of where to play choices. Then choose one. Doing so can be hard but has delivered a huge upside for our clients.
Don’t embark on a strategy for growth without specific where choices. If everything is a priority then nothing is.
If your growth has stalled or is slow then continuing to do what you have always done will not drive significant improvement. It was Rita Mae Brown, and not Albert Einstein, who first said: ”Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
We can help you with the difficult questions in developing a winning strategy. We will lead you to make the difficult choices to accelerate growth and recurring revenue.
