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I’ve been hearing a lot of reasons people ✌️don’t need✌️ strategies and I wanna talk about ‘em! Here’s the 2nd one. (The first one was “We’re not ready yet” and you can find it here)
2nd: “Strategies only help if things are going as expected.”
tl;dr on why it doesn’t hold up: A sound strategy should make in-the-moment decision making easier and leave room to be nimble.
Story time: I recently met a woman who had spent years creating comprehensive strategic plans for large companies. I asked her if she still did any strategy work and she said no, because “strategic plans are useless”.
Now, I actually do think most strategic plans are boring and cumbersome. But useless? That feels like a stretch.
She explained that strategic plans only account for what we assume right now and, as soon as any circumstances change, the whole plan becomes obsolete. On the one hand, I get it. Raise your hand if anytime in the last 5 years you’ve had to adjust your plan due to the circumstances around you?
On the other hand, with the exception of unprecedented worldwide events, (are we back to precedented times yet btw????), I think this comes up most often with poorly crafted strategic plans.
Yup, you heard me.
If your entire strategic plan becomes irrelevant any time something unexpected comes up, it’s not an effective strategy. A strategy does not need to account for every detail or possible hiccup along the way.
Sticking with our roadtrip analogy from last time, if you hit traffic or a road closure on a roadtrip, Waze doesn’t just end the trip. You don’t turn around just because something unexpected came up. Instead, your GPS takes the data about where you are going and uses it to move around the incident.
Strategy should do the same. It doesn’t need to lay out the answer to every question you’ll have to respond to along the way. But it should help you understand how to answer those questions. Which criteria do you use? What are you journeying towards more of? What factors along the way are non-negotiable and which are flexible? These are the kinds of guardrails your strategy provides.
A strategy that makes in-the-moment decision making more difficult is nearly useless. But that’s not what we’re after. We’re after something that illuminates, creates decisiveness, and adds clarity. I want you to have a strategy that keeps you on track and leaves room to be nimble and to pivot, experiment, and play in your business.
If this is something you need, book a clarity workshop (for creatives, entrepreneurs, & early stage founders) or a growth diagnostic (for established organizations). I have 11 spots left this year. I’m eager to fill them and to start booking up my project spots for next year so I’m offering a 25% discount on all services through November 15th. (Use code fall25)
How to put this to work
How does your strategy or general game plan support you when you need to pivot?
If it feels too vague to be helpful, then it’s not specific enough to your vision.
If it feels too detail oriented to be relevant when circumstances shift, then it’s probably too cumbersome and prioritizes specific tactics rather than the big picture.
Workshops are here to support you! The Clarity workshop is for creatives, entrepreneurs, & early stage founders and the Growth diagnostic is for established organizations.
This Cool Thing I Found -
random oohs and ahhs I’ve stumbled upon recently
🌍⛈️ earth::a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions
See wind, currents, and waves in real time. Take a look.
🌿🌼 My Home Park
Curated native plant gardens! In addition to competitively priced seed mixes and single species trays, you can also pop in your zip code to build a kit that works for your area. Sadly only available in the eastern US for now but .
Cheering for you,
I’m Laura Green - a strategist empowering creative leaders to build businesses they love. My work focuses providing you actionable insights and customized strategies to find more impact and less friction. I want you to have the clarity, confidence, and energy to make good stuff happen, to drive profit, and to get back to doing the work you love. As for me - I love charts, good beer, nerdy nature books, and sneakers. When I’m not spinning up spreadsheets, you can find me gardening, hanging with my wonderfully wild kids, or sneaking in a nap. ✌️