The Essence of Strategy: Empowering Teams through Principles and Systems

The 13 Commandments of Strategic Thinking

1. If your team can’t use your strategy to make real decisions, it’s not a strategy.
2. Strategy is made of principles, not plans. You can’t script the future — but you can guide decisions.
3. You have six key stakeholders. Strategy must serve all of them — not just shareholders.
4. Customers are special. They bring in the money. Everyone else takes it out.
5. Solve big problems. The bigger the problem, the more value you create.
6. Satisfaction over profit. Happy customers bring profits. Not the other way around.
7. It all connects. Customers → Needs → Value → Assets → Processes.
8. Forget the vision board. Focus on your purpose and mission — who you serve, and why.
9. Strategy is direction + pace. Not a fixed destination.
10. Think in decades. The goal is to build a company that outlives you.
11. Don’t play someone else’s game. Create your own market.
12. Forget annual targets. Build the capacity to learn, adapt, and create value.
13. See your business as Value Waves. Strategy is how you redesign those waves to create more value.

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