What You’ll Learn

Every company needs a strategy, one that will position it to grow over the long term. But charting such a path forward can be challenging, especially if your industry is facing new entrants, frequent disruption, or increased regulation. Your strategy must account for where you’re competing, the customers you are targeting, what you aim to offer, and what your people need to succeed. And it must be communicated in a way that ensures buy-in from stakeholders—especially your employees. Otherwise, execution may fall flat.

Whether you are revising a strategy you already have or formulating your startup’s strategy for the first time, this guide will provide you with practical tips and advice to help you define a strategy that will give your company a competitive edge, test it to ensure it will work, communicate it to others and execute it, and adapt it as needed.

You’ll learn to:

• Understand the basics of strategy, implementation, and execution
• Consider the predictability and malleability of your industry
• Organize a more productive strategy offsite
• Recognize who your stakeholders are, what their needs are, and what you want from them
• Consider where you’ll play and how to win in crafting your strategy
• Build purpose and creativity into your strategy
• Think in the long term, rather than in annual—or quarterly—cycles
• Identify the capabilities you need to ensure success
• Test your strategy before implementing it
• Communicate your strategy to your team by defining what you won’t be doing
• Evaluate and adjust your strategy over time