Strategy is about saying No

Strategy is about saying no according to noted consultant and former Harvard Business School professor, David Maister. [1] What does Maister mean?

You probably think of strategy as the list of means by which you intend to accomplish your business goals. But for every strategy you choose, numerous other options and opportunities are essentially foreclosed because:

• No one can focus on more than a few priorities at once.

• Resources are scarce and must be carefully allocated to key priorities

• Diversion and digression are the enemies of success

According to Maister, the real problem occurs when you don’t follow those rules:

• Choose strategies without giving adequate thought to the foregone options and your decisions may not be optimal.

• Changing strategies repeatedly will likely waste resources.

• Distraction is costly and your success depends on a laser focus on clear goals and well thought out strategies.

Just say no to everything else.

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[1] Maister’s most recent book is Strategy and the Fat Smoker: Doing What’s Obvious but Not Easy