The opening scene of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan shows a Vulcan woman captain faced with an extreme life-or-death situation. The scene concludes with the ship blowing up. As it turns out, there was no way for Lieutenant Saavik to survive the threat. It’s a no-win scenario. Luckily, this was a training exercise called the Kobayashi Maru and everyone was still alive. The test is meant to expose future commanders to the risk of certain death.

Lieutenant Saavik asks Captain Kirk how he did with the test. He passed. Not because he was brilliant but because he hacked the system the night before and changed the test conditions, telling her he didn’t believe in the no-win situation.

This is the moment my interest, no, love of strategy was born. To me, strategy is about seeing all possibilities and choosing a path forward.

The strategy-to-execution gap is the disconnect between your strategic plans and the execution of those plans. When there is a lack of alignment, communication, talent, and coordination between the strategy and execution stages of a project or initiative, it can result in failed or incomplete projects, missed opportunities, and lost revenue. And then people are mystified when the goal is missed.

Think of it this way. If a plane is 1-degree off-course when it takes off, it will miss the target by 1 mile for every 60 miles it travels. That means if you leave LAX for JFK, you will find yourself in New Jersey playing finger-pointing Olympics.

I think we all can agree that hope is not a strategy or a list of goals. That begs the question, what is a strategy? There are three principles to crafting a winning strategy.

1. Decide what you want to be better at than anyone else.

Who you want to be begins with who you want to serve. A well-crafted strategy starts with a well-crafted brand identity. Within that identity, you should be clear about the ideal customer and what value you provide. Your unique value proposition is your competitive advantage and differentiator. It’s why people want to buy from you.

2. Make trade-offs and decide what you won’t do.

The fastest way to lose your strategy to the gap is to say ‘yes’ to everything. As Michael Porter puts it, strategy is deciding what to say no to. What good is a strategy if you engage in activities that have nothing to do with achieving it?

You're either saying yes because you’re afraid to say no, or you have FOMO.

3. Create fit between all parts of the organization and its activities.

The organization’s leaders must agree on the strategy and how they will contribute to achieving it. If the CEO wants to open a new line of business, HR, operations, finance, and marketing must agree to prioritize the work supporting that decision.

In other words, everyone must agree or disagree and commit. That’s right, even if you disagree and you’ve had the opportunity to voice your opinion, you must still commit to the activity. Because if you don’t, you will be the reason the plane is 1-degree off-course at take-off.

The top three mistakes when defining strategy:

Including the following components in your strategy will help you develop the plan and seamlessly transition into execution.

A well-defined brand identity

Any road will get you there if you don’t know where you’re going. Plus, if your employees don’t know where they’re going and why, they will be uninspired.

Before you think about colors and fonts, here is what you need to have determined:

Unique Value Proposition

The roadmap and hierarchy - this is typically where the gap occurs.

If you aren’t familiar with the fable of the fox and the hedgehog, here’s a brief summary. The fox is always trying to catch and eat the hedgehog. And every day, the hedgehog escapes the clutches of the fox and lives to fight another day. This fable was popularized in Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great.

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The fox pursues multiple outcomes simultaneously and sees the world as a complex set of choices but never integrates them into a single unifying vision. The hedgehog organizes complex choices into a single idea, basic principle, or concept that unifies and guides everything.

Translate the strategy into everyday activity.

Make a plan and work the plan. Use an accountability matrix like RACI to keep things on track. Have regular communications in the form of meetings or shareable documents archived in a central location. Do not rely solely on email.

Develop a dashboard or balanced scorecard to help make data-driven decisions. Provide regular updates, shout out key contributors, and create a feedback loop.

Put your culture to work to drive buy-in.

Nothing is more frustrating than watching an initiative leader ignore the resources they have access to. Organizational buy-in is critical to an initiative’s success. Identify champions throughout the company or business unit. These will be people who help stop the nattering and negative commentary by spreading factual information.

Additionally, some people are excited to be part of an initiative in any way. Ask people for feedback or to participate in testing. So many strategies fall flat because it’s dictated rather than shared.

Cut costs to grow stronger and keep your eye on the money.

One of the most mystifying actions I see organizations take is claiming something is priority number one and not funding it. When I say cut costs, I mean cut the costs of the things you say no to. And manage the money of the things you say yes to.

Shape your future through strategic foresight.

Abraham Lincoln said the best way to predict the future is to create the future. And that brings me back to Captain Kirk. He ensured his win by creating the conditions for him to win. Companies can do the same by transforming data into insight, insight into foresight, and foresight into innovation.

Once the strategy is in place, you must monitor the environment and keep your eye on the future to know when you need to pivot or double down.

Whew! I gave you a lot here. I know. Here is the strategy cheat sheet and examples of who does it right to help summarize.

When you’re ready to work with me, visit me at hvg.llc.