My 10-Year Strategy WTF

The aroma of matcha still lingered, a comforting, earthy cloud in my kitchen. Barefoot, I flipped through a stack of meeting notes – weeks, months, even years of thoughts, decisions, and dilemmas. And in that quiet moment, it hit me. A realization, sharp and clear, that had been simmering for over a decade.

It took me more than ten years to truly understand what the f*ck strategy actually is. Not the textbook definition, mind you, or the slick PowerPoint slides presented in boardrooms. I mean, the real thing. The kind of understanding that shifts your perspective, changes how you lead, and fundamentally alters the trajectory of your business.

This isn't theory. This is a collection of hard-earned lessons from the trenches, paid for in real-life experiments, glorious mistakes, unexpected wins, and far too many nights staring at the ceiling, wondering where I was going wrong. You’re probably thinking, "Yeah, yeah, another article about strategy." I get it. I’ve read a million of them. But I promise you, this isn’t that. This is my personal, battle-tested understanding, born from the messy reality of building and growing. So, keep reading. You might just find a piece of the puzzle you’ve been missing.

What I Thought Strategy Was (Spoiler Alert: I Was Wrong. Very Wrong.)

When I first stepped into the CEO role, I was convinced my job description had one central directive: make all the right decisions. Sounds logical, right? As the leader, the buck stopped with me. So, I tried to make it stop with me for everything. Every significant choice, every critical path, every pivot. I was the central brain, the ultimate arbiter, the one who had to weigh every option and pull every lever.

The reality? I wasn't just making the decisions; I was making all of them. It was an overwhelming, unsustainable trap. I became the bottleneck, the go-to person for even minor approvals, and the team waited. They waited for my insights, my green light, my blessing. My days were a blur of meetings, endless emails, and the constant pressure of being the sole source of "rightness."

Then there was the illusion of the "perfect deck." Oh, the hours I poured into perfecting the strategy deck! Polished slides, eloquent bullet points, compelling graphs. I believed that if the document was flawless, the strategy was flawless. I treated the deck as the strategy itself, rather than a tool to communicate it. The more aesthetically pleasing and detailed it was, the more "strategic" I felt. It was a beautiful artifact, often completely disconnected from the messy, dynamic reality of execution on the ground.

"Strategy" often felt like a vague, corporate buzzword – something lofty and abstract discussed in off-sites, but rarely truly internalized or actionable by the folks doing the actual work. It floated above the daily grind, sounding important but offering little practical guidance. This led to a pervasive frustration: decisions were often reactive, initiatives felt disjointed, and the team lacked a cohesive understanding of why we were doing what we were doing.

My prior approach, though well-intentioned, was a recipe for exhaustion and inefficiency. It created a culture of dependency, stifled initiative, and ensured that while I might have a grand vision, the organization as a whole was often just treading water, waiting for my next directive. It was frustrating, and frankly, a bit chaotic.

The "WTF" Moment: What Strategy Actually Is (The Simple, Profound Truth)

The epiphany didn't come in a boardroom, but in my kitchen, amidst the mundane. And when it finally clicked, it was shockingly simple, yet profoundly powerful:

Strategy is a set of decisions about how you create and capture value — and how you build a company that people choose, again and again.

Let that sink in.

This isn't about fleeting tactics, quarterly goals, or market share percentages (though those are outcomes). This is about the fundamental, deliberate choices that define your business's very existence and how it sustains itself. It moves us far beyond mere tactics, which are just the actions you take. Strategy is the framework for those actions. It’s the lens through which every decision, big or small, should be viewed.

It boils down to two critical pillars:

1. Creating Value: What meaningful problem are you solving for your customers? How are you making their lives better, easier, or more enjoyable? This is the why you exist.
2. Capturing Value: How does your business earn a return for creating that value? This ensures your sustainability, allowing you to continue solving problems and growing.

And the final, crucial piece: building a company that people choose, again and again. This emphasizes longevity and customer loyalty, not just a one-off transaction. It speaks to establishing trust, delivering consistent quality, and fostering an experience that makes customers return and advocate for you. True strategy isn't about a single win; it's about building an enduring engine of value.

The Secret Sauce: Empowering Your Team (Goodbye, Centralized Overload!)

Once I grasped that core definition, everything shifted. My job wasn't to make all the decisions, but to ensure the right decisions were being made across the organization. This meant a critical pivot: from dictating to enabling.

Real strategy isn't about telling people what to do. It’s about equipping your team with the tools to decide – without waiting for approval, a meeting, or a PowerPoint. It’s about giving them the context, the principles, and the understanding to make informed choices on their own. This is especially vital because, as we all know, things will change. Markets pivot, customers evolve, competitors emerge. A central decision-maker can never keep up.

Imagine a team where everyone understands the core strategic direction, the guiding principles, and the desired outcomes. They don’t need to ask for permission for every small step; they can interpret the situation and make a move. That’s agility. That’s speed.

Of course, autonomy without direction is chaos. If everyone is just doing what they think is best without a shared understanding of the strategic landscape, you end up with fragmented efforts and conflicting priorities. But autonomy with principles? That’s where the magic truly happens. It unleashes creativity, fosters ownership, and dramatically increases the speed and effectiveness of your organization.

Why Systems and Principles Rule the World (and Your Business)

This insight was a game-changer: You don’t rise to the level of your goals — you fall to the level of your systems.

Goals are aspirations. Systems are the actual machinery that gets you there. You can have the loftiest goals, but if your processes, communication channels, and decision-making frameworks are broken, you'll constantly fall short. Therefore, every strategic priority must translate into better systems. Want to improve customer retention? You need better onboarding systems, better feedback loops, better support systems. Want to innovate faster? You need better R&D systems, better testing protocols, better knowledge sharing.

And what underpins these systems, making them truly effective? Clear, strong, well-communicated principles. Principles are the bedrock that makes autonomy possible. They are the guardrails that prevent chaos while still allowing freedom of movement. When people understand:

• The why behind what they do: The mission, the purpose, the ultimate problem you're solving.
• The how they create value: Their specific role, their unique contribution to the larger strategic picture.
• The where you are going: The strategic direction, the desired future state, the vision.

...then they can make independent, aligned decisions.

Here's the beautiful paradox: The better your principles, the less you need rules. Rules are rigid, often reactive, and can stifle innovation. Principles are proactive, adaptable, and guide judgment. They empower people to think critically within a defined framework, rather than just blindly follow a checklist.

If I had to do it all over again, I’d spend less time perfecting the strategy deck – and more time making sure every single person on the team knew these three things. When everyone from the intern to the executive understands the why, how, and where, your company doesn’t just become efficient; it becomes unstoppable. That’s when the collective intelligence of your team truly shines.

Beyond the Pockets: Leading with Purpose (Hard-Earned Lessons from the Trenches)

Let me say it again, because this is crucial and often forgotten in the relentless pursuit of growth:

Business isn’t about stuffing your pockets. It’s about solving meaningful problems so well, people throw their money at you.

This isn’t just a feel-good statement; it’s a strategic imperative. If you focus solely on profit, you risk becoming extractive and short-sighted. If you obsess over solving a genuine, deeply felt problem for your customers, profit becomes a natural byproduct, a signal that you're doing something right.

If you want to lead with clarity, start with central principles – the kind your managers can actually use when they’re on the ground, making real choices. Principles like:

• "Default to Transparency": Always share information unless there's a compelling reason not to. This builds trust and ensures everyone has the context they need.
• "Customer Delight Over Expediency": In any conflict between a quick fix and truly delighting the customer, choose delight. This shapes long-term loyalty.
• "Innovate Relentlessly, Learn Constantly": Encourage experimentation, even if it fails. Prioritize learning and adaptation.
• "Own the Outcome, Not Just the Task": Empower individuals and teams to be responsible for the end result, not just their piece of the puzzle.

When those answers are clear – when your team understands why they exist, how they create value, where they're headed, and what principles guide their actions – strategy stops being a buzzword and starts being a force multiplier. It amplifies every effort, aligns every decision, and unleashes the collective power of your people.

Remember: To create value for somebody, you need to identify their needs first. This fundamental truth underpins all good strategy.

The Shift, The Wisdom, and What's Next

Once I truly understood these core ideas – that strategy is about deliberate choices in value creation and capture, that it's about empowering your team through clear principles and robust systems, and that business is ultimately about solving meaningful problems – everything shifted. The burden lifted. The chaos subsided. And the company, slowly but surely, became more agile, more cohesive, and more effective.

The decade-long struggle wasn't wasted. Every misstep, every late night, every moment of confusion was a data point, a lesson learned that ultimately led to this clarity. My hope is that by sharing this journey, you can shortcut some of that pain.

If this resonated with you, if it sparked a flicker of recognition or an "aha!" moment, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment or share this with someone who needs to read it. And if you want more strategy stories, mental models, and battle-tested principles like these, subscribe or follow me. I’ll send the good stuff straight to your inbox.

For those looking to dive deeper into the academic side of strategy, I recommend "Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases by Thompson and Strickland" as a solid foundation. But always remember, the real learning happens in the trenches.