What strategy costs
The price you pay for a strategy.
Strategy has a cost.
In fact, there’s an old joke from an economist that says “strategy” is usually just “a synonym for expensive.”
But what does the expense actually buy?
Well, it buys clarity. It buys knowing what to do next, whatever’s happening around you.
It buys knowing that you’ve thought things through, aligned your capabilities with your ambition, and have a unique approach that no one else can match.
But that economist wasn’t totally wrong. Clarity can be expensive.
The thing is, though, clarity isn’t bought with money.
It’s bought with focus.
Because knowing what to do next requires knowing what you don’t—or won’t—do in any given circumstance.
It requires knowing what you want, stand for, and can achieve. And what you don’t want, don’t care about, and aren’t striving for.
Clarity in vision and in strategy is a product of precise focus. And that’s as much about what you don’t focus on as it is about what you do.
Focus is a simple concept, but it’s never easy. But it can be fun, and it’s always rewarding.
Because it rewards you every time you make a decision, and feel confident in it.
