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Intelligence
What is Strategy?

Intelligence

What is Strategy?

Oct 22, 2007By Voltaire Santos Miran

No two sources will give you the same response to this question. If you go to Google and plug in, “define: strategy” (you knew about the Google dictionary feature right? If not check it out… define: anything). Cool Googlisms aside, define: strategy will get answers that cover everything from how to win your next war, to intricacies of neuro-linguistic programming. Useful info, to be sure, but not perfectly accessible.

What I’d like to posit here is that the art of strategy is perhaps the most relevant practice going, as meaningful to nations as it is to nonprofits. Why? Quite simply because strategy gets at two questions that are meaningful to everyone:

1. Where would I like to go?
2. How am I going to get there?

Said another way, a strategic plan is a combination of destination and compass. Without such, day-to-day progress is likely to be dictated by the priorities of the moment. With a strategic plan, virtually every action brings you closer to an ideal outcome. Moreover, this vision of an ideal outcome allows you to ask of every activity, “How is this serving my objective?” It should be noted that within this paradigm, there is still room for the daily priorities, but there is also an overall methodology that guides you toward an specific goal. And that’s the key: Strategy is all about ideal outcomes. Want to retire on an island in the South Pacific? Want to increase your admissions yield? Want to raise a billion dollars? It’s all doable… truly.

How do you get started? Well, I’d argue that strategic thinking is an art best practiced by everyone, meaning you. Who other than you is best suited to answer the question of where you’d like to go and, given the available resources, how you’re going to get there? In your sphere of influence, you are the expert. That said, like the art of physical fitness, a trainer, (or in the realm of strategy, a strategic consultant) can help you get started with the process. But ultimately, you know what’s best for you (or your nation, or your nonprofit), and this means that you are in the best position to guide the day to day activities that will get you there.

So go, take a moment and ask youself these two questions: First, “Five years from now, where would I like to be?” Then, “What steps can I take that will lead me there?” Got some answers? Well then, the process has begun and your ideal outcome is now out there waiting for you.

Next up in this series: Applied Strategy. Alternately titled… Yes, you really can increase your admissions yield, raise a billion dollars, and retire on a Pacific island.


  • Voltaire Santos Miran EVP, Web Strategy I've developed and implemented communication strategies in education for more than 20 years now. I think my team at mStoner is the smartest, funniest, and coolest group of colleagues ever, and I can't imagine being anywhere else. Except Barcelona. Or Paris. Or Istanbul. To quote Isak Dinesen, "the cure for everything is salt ... tears, sweat, and the sea."