Strategic planning is killing your business
When a business struggles, the first step is a diagnosis: is this a problem of execution or of marketplace fit? They need completely different cures. Fixing fit takes strategy, and strategy is not planning.
Leaders avoid the real problem because admitting a fit problem is admitting an existential one, because strategy has no definitive answers and means giving up control to test, and because it hides below the surface behind visible culprits like a clunky website. Usually the truth is quieter: customers now have better options. A fit problem is a customer problem, so marketing should lead the response.
A strategy problem has no simple answer. It takes a hypothesis, testing, learning, and the courage to admit the fit is broken.
Blue Ocean and 7 Powers
Two frameworks do most of the heavy lifting on a strategy problem, and they work best as a one-two punch.
Nominate one leader, assemble a cross-functional team of no more than seven who already accept a strategy problem exists, gather honest inputs, and work one exercise per session. Then bring in 7 Powers to find a moat around the best option, and test it. A new strategy is only a hypothesis until it meets the market.
Don't differentiate, preferentiate
Being different does not make you better. Some differences make you less preferred. The goal was never difference; the goal is to be chosen.
Start from the customer's decision and ask why someone would prefer you over the specific alternative they would otherwise choose. Differences that don't tip that decision are vanity. Aim to be preferred by someone specific rather than different to everyone.
Double jeopardy is outlawed, except in marketing
Smaller brands are punished twice for being small: they have far fewer buyers, and those buyers are slightly less loyal. Researchers call it the Double Jeopardy Law.
The lesson: loyalty is largely a consequence of size, not a substitute for it. Don't over-invest in loyalty at the expense of reach. Prioritize penetration and compete for the many light buyers. Retention matters, but reach comes first.
Habits of thought
Curiosity beats intelligence
Intelligence answers the question. Curiosity finds the better one. Ask before you answer, assume you are missing something, and follow the surprises.
A well-defined problem is 90% solved
Write the problem as a paragraph, separate it from the solution, make it specific and falsifiable, and invite disagreement.
A great recommendation answers three questions
Why do anything? Why do it this way? Why will it work? In that order. Miss one and you leave a doubt that kills the proposal.
The answers are not in the office
Talk to real customers, especially the ones who left. Watch behavior, not just opinion. The data tells you what; only the customer tells you why.
Thought experiments
Before you spend real money, run the experiment in your head. Every framework here is a structured thought experiment: “If we cut this ad, what happens to sales?” is incrementality. “If a prospect said no right now, what would they say?” is the benefit barriers.
Argue for your idea, then against it as hard as you can. Get comfortable killing ideas on paper, cheaply. Then test for real and let the market cast the deciding vote.
Think hard, test honestly, do more of what works.