The Best Strategies are Often Simple, Obvious, and Meant to be Stolen
Developing a great strategy is often viewed as the holy grail of business success. Companies spend a ton of time, money, and effort trying to come up with the perfect plan that will set them apart from the competition. Yet, despite all this effort, many strategies fall short of delivering on all of these expectations, leaving leaders frustrated and feeling like they wasted precious resources.
So why is great strategy so elusive? Of course, it goes without saying that great strategy requires deep analysis, creativity, and a willingness to take risks. But the true answer to why great strategy is so elusive is probably not what you’d expect… The very best strategies are often deceptively simple, painfully obvious, and meant to be stolen. Let’s dig into to each.
Great Strategies are Deceptively Simple
First, great strategy is often deceptively simple. In a world where complexity is often seen as a badge of honor, the best strategies are actually quite simple. A great strategy doesn’t require an army of consultants or a complex spreadsheet to explain. Rather, it is straightforward, intuitive, and easy to understand. It can be explained in a few sentences and easily communicated to others. It is the simplicity of a great strategy that makes it powerful. It is so simple that it can be executed with a high level of consistency, and it provides a clear path forward for everyone involved.
A simple strategy allows everyone in the organization to understand and align around the same vision, goals, and tactics. It enables faster decision-making and more effective resource allocation. And it reduces the risk of miscommunication and misalignment that can derail even the best-laid plans.
A prime example of a winningly simple strategy is Steve Jobs’ return to Apple in 1997. At that time, Apple had a complex and confusing product portfolio that included numerous computer models, peripherals, and accessories. Jobs realized that this approach was not sustainable and simplified the portfolio to a simple 2x2 matrix of four product categories: desktops and portables for consumers, and desktops and portables for professionals. This approach allowed Apple to focus on producing a limited set of products that were easy to understand and differentiated from the competition, which played a crucial role in Apple’s eventual resurgence.
Great Strategies are Painfully Obvious
Another characteristic of great strategy is that it’s often painfully obvious. When you look back at successful strategies, they often seem like common sense in retrospect. But that’s only because they were so well-aligned with the needs of the organization and the market.
In other words, great strategies are often hiding in plain sight. The challenge is recognizing them and having the courage to pursue them. It’s not always easy to see the forest for the trees, but taking a step back and looking at the big picture can help you identify the most obvious yet powerful strategies.
Once a great strategy is developed, it often seems like it was always there, just waiting to be discovered. In hindsight, it can be hard to imagine that anyone could have missed such an obvious solution. However, the process of developing a great strategy is anything but obvious. It requires a deep understanding of the situation, the ability to see things from different perspectives, and the creativity to develop a unique and effective solution.
If you’re having trouble developing an ‘obvious’ strategy, there are a few practical steps you can take. It’s important to approach the problem from different perspectives and challenge any assumptions that may be limiting your thinking. One effective approach is to use the “Five Whys” technique, popularized by Lean/Six Sigma teaching. Five Whys involves asking “why” five times to drill down to the root cause of a problem. If you’re able to boil your strategic gaps down to their essence, the correct course of action often become obvious. Another approach is to seek out diverse perspectives and opinions, whether it’s from customers, employees, or industry experts. Finally, it’s important to stay up-to-date on industry trends and continually analyze data to identify potential areas for improvement. By combining these approaches, you can begin to uncover the “obvious” strategies that may have been hiding in plain sight.
One example of this is the “freemium” model, where a company offers a basic version of its product or service for free and charges for premium features or higher usage levels. This model has been used successfully by companies like Dropbox, LinkedIn, and Spotify, among others. The idea is simple and obvious — give customers a taste of what you offer for free and entice them to pay for more — but the execution can be tricky. Companies must balance the tradeoffs between free users and paying users, manage the costs of supporting both, and ensure that the free version is valuable enough to attract new customers but not so valuable that it cannibalizes the paid version.
Great Strategies are Meant to be Stolen
Finally, great strategy is meant to be stolen. By this, I mean that successful organizations are always borrowing and adapting strategies from others. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when others have already figured out what works.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should blindly copy what others are doing. Rather, it means that you should be constantly looking for inspiration and ideas from a variety of sources. Whether it’s reading industry publications, attending conferences, or networking with peers, there are plenty of ways to learn from others and incorporate their strategies into your own.
Not only should we seek to borrow working strategies from other groups, companies and even other industries, we should also strive to have our own strategies ‘stolen’ by others. When a strategy is truly great, it is often quickly adopted by others, first internally, and if you’ve really struck gold, it will be adopted by others externally in your industry. This is because a great strategy is built upon universal principles that can be applied to many different situations. Rather than being proprietary, a great strategy is meant to be shared and imitated. When others in the industry begin to adopt your strategy, it is a clear sign that you have developed something truly valuable.
Simple, Obvious, and Stolen — Key Ingredients to Great Strategy
Developing a great strategy is a difficult and elusive task. The best strategies are often deceptively simple, painfully obvious, and meant to be stolen. However, despite the challenges, the development of a great strategy is one of the most important things that any business can do. It’s the key to achieving success and setting yourself apart from the competition. So, if you’re struggling to develop a great strategy, remember that it’s often the simplest, most obvious ideas that are the most effective.
