Vision, strategy, and tactics
Vision, strategy, and tactics
People badly confuse vision, strategy, and tactics. Here’s a primer on how to achieve clarity so that the next time you’re asked for a strategy or need to develop a vision, you can do so with confidence.
Let’s talk in terms of a road trip.
Vision
Why are we going on a road trip at all?
If you don’t know why you’re in business, if you don’t know why you get up in the morning every day, you don’t have vision. You don’t have a reason, you can’t answer the question of why. Why bother?
When the alarm rings at 4:55 AM every weekday, I get up and go to the Student Loan Network with the overarching reason of going to help someone get an education. I believe in education. I believe that education on the whole makes things better, makes society better, and in true enlightened self interest, makes my world better. Smarter people around me means better conversation, better ideas, better friends. Smarter coworkers and colleagues means higher paid colleagues and my share of the tax burden decreases proportionally the smarter and more talented everyone else is.
If you can’t answer why your company exists (besides make money), then you have no vision. You’ll give up because there’s no reason to go.
Strategy
So you’re going on a road trip. Great! Where are you going?
Strategy is knowing the destination. Knowing where you want to go, knowing what the goal is. Strategy is having defined, achievable goals that are in alignment with your vision.
If my vision is to help someone get a better education, my strategy is to develop trusted relationships with that someone so that we mutually benefit. I vend products and services that I believe in, that will legitimately help my customer achieve a better education, and I am compensated in return. If I say I want to build one million trusted relationships with customers to help them afford an education, that’s a strategy. That’s where I’m going.
If you can’t answer where your company is going, then you have no strategy. You’ll give up because driving in circles is boring.
Tactics
We know why we’re in the van. We know where we want to go. Does anyone have a map to get there?
Tactics is knowing how to get there, how to get to our destination, how to achieve on a turn by turn basis the mission of getting the van to the end point. I need a map.
If my strategy is to build one million trusted relationships with customers, then I need allies. I need to develop relationships with influencers and force multipliers who can help me share things like the Financial Aid Podcast. I need tools like Blue Sky Factory’s Publicaster email service, I need techniques like search engine optimization, I need great products and services that are worth talking about so that others are so inspired that they want to talk about them without my goading them to.
Tactics are like maps in another key aspect: if I want to get to Waltham, Massachusetts from Quincy, Massachusetts, I can take I-93 to I-95. I can take I-90 to I-95. I can take Route 3N. I can take a whole bunch of side roads. Tactics can be flexible – you can take different routes as long as you ultimately get to your destination.
If you can’t answer how your company is going to actually get to the destination, then you have no tactics. You’ll give up because you’ll be lost without a map.
Let’s review:
Vision: Why are we even getting in the van?
Strategy: Where are we going?
Tactics: How are we going to get there?
Finally, a couple of key mistakes I’ve seen especially in social media.
“It’s all about the community!” Wrong. That’s like saying, “Put more people in the van!” So what? Now you have a van full of people. Do you know why they are there at all? Do you know where you’re going? Or are you just in a van with a bunch of people hoping someone else drives ahead of you and you can tag along?
“It’s all about driving traffic to our shiny 2.0 widgety trendsetting flexible scalable social media hub!” Wrong. That’s like saying, “Drive the van faster!” So what? You’re driving the van really fast. Do you have any idea where the van is actually going? Drive the van faster is both useless and dangerous, especially if faster means into a telephone pole.
“It’s all about being remarkable!” Wrong. You’ve got a nice van. A really nice van. A tricked out van. So what? The product is not the marketing. Yes, absolutely, taking a road trip in a nice luxury limo will be a lot more pleasant than taking a road trip in a beaten up Yugo. But if you don’t know where you’re going, you have no map, and you don’t know why, all you have is a nice van, and while it’s remarkable, you’re still not going anywhere.
Remember: why? where? how? and you’ll know vision, strategy, and tactics.
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Nice article, Chris. I particularly like the analogies at the end “Drive the van faster is both useless and dangerous, especially if faster means into a telephone pole.”
Too often people want technology to come up with the answer to questions that can only be answered by a human.
Really great post, Chris. I love the analogy all the way through. As you and I both are known for community, making that point about all the people in the van is a great one.
Love this post!
Chris – this is a really good article! I'll definitely be referencing it for my students.
Hey Chris,
I really like the post too – hope you saw my humor on Twitter. (we can't load up the bus & drive it faster?! please!!)
I use the terms: vision, mission, strategy, objectives & goals. But your analogy is great!
I love this post! I must admit I take people on a trip when I present on personal mission and vision because people really get the difference in this context (health works too). First a virtual vacation then pick on someone for a career trip. Man it works – you gave me new points and I thank you! I give a talk tomorrow and will mention this post to the SBA group.
I am not sure this a topic that can be discussed properly in a blog? Really the difference between vision, strategy, and tactics is only 15% of the plan. The other 85% is execution which I find so many people fail miserably.
Nice article, Chris. I particularly like the analogies at the end “Drive the van faster is both useless and dangerous, especially if faster means into a telephone pole.”
Too often people want technology to come up with the answer to questions that can only be answered by a human.
Well said. Thanks for the great article!
This goes to show where plain talk is more effective in getting the point across than techie talk. So many times the “experts” are trying so hard to establish their credentials that they totally lose sight of the people they are trying to help. Are they pushing the newest, shiny gizmo or are they helping me get to my goals?
Excellent use of storytelling to get the point across.
Great article. I never thought of it that way, but you highlight some key reasons why people give up or lose interest. Well done.
Really great post, Chris. I love the analogy all the way through. As you and I both are known for community, making that point about all the people in the van is a great one.
Love this post!
Chris – this is a really good article! I'll definitely be referencing it for my students.
Hey Chris,
I really like the post too – hope you saw my humor on Twitter. (we can't load up the bus & drive it faster?! please!!)
I use the terms: vision, mission, strategy, objectives & goals. But your analogy is great!
I love this post! I must admit I take people on a trip when I present on personal mission and vision because people really get the difference in this context (health works too). First a virtual vacation then pick on someone for a career trip. Man it works – you gave me new points and I thank you! I give a talk tomorrow and will mention this post to the SBA group.
I am not sure this a topic that can be discussed properly in a blog? Really the difference between vision, strategy, and tactics is only 15% of the plan. The other 85% is execution which I find so many people fail miserably.
Well said. Thanks for the great article!
This goes to show where plain talk is more effective in getting the point across than techie talk. So many times the “experts” are trying so hard to establish their credentials that they totally lose sight of the people they are trying to help. Are they pushing the newest, shiny gizmo or are they helping me get to my goals?
Excellent use of storytelling to get the point across.
Great article. I never thought of it that way, but you highlight some key reasons why people give up or lose interest. Well done.
I agree with everything you wrote, Chris, minus one point.
Your statement, “Strategy is knowing the destination,” is not necessarily accurate. I suggest strategy is knowing the direction.
By means of background, one of my favorite quotes is by John Steinbeck. Near the beginning of his autobiographical tale, “Travels with Charley,” he writes:
“In Spanish there is a word for which I can't find a counterword in English. It is the verb vacilar, present participle vacilando. It does not mean vacillating at all. If one is vacilando, he is going somewhere, but does not greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction. Everything in the world must have a design or the human mind rejects it. But in addition, it must have purpose or the human conscience shies away from it.”
As a converge my experiences and passions to work with business and government leaders to help them navigate the web and build online communities, they don't need to have a destination defined because we all know the web changes every day with new tools and technologies. But they do need to have a direction, so I can help guide them.
I agree with everything you wrote, Chris, minus one point.
Your statement, “Strategy is knowing the destination,” is not necessarily accurate. I suggest strategy is knowing the direction.
By means of background, one of my favorite quotes is by John Steinbeck. Near the beginning of his autobiographical tale, “Travels with Charley,” he writes:
“In Spanish there is a word for which I can't find a counterword in English. It is the verb vacilar, present participle vacilando. It does not mean vacillating at all. If one is vacilando, he is going somewhere, but does not greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction. Everything in the world must have a design or the human mind rejects it. But in addition, it must have purpose or the human conscience shies away from it.”
As a converge my experiences and passions to work with business and government leaders to help them navigate the web and build online communities, they don't need to have a destination defined because we all know the web changes every day with new tools and technologies. But they do need to have a direction, so I can help guide them.
I agree with everything you wrote, Chris, minus one point.
Your statement, “Strategy is knowing the destination,” is not necessarily accurate. I suggest strategy is knowing the direction.
By means of background, one of my favorite quotes is by John Steinbeck. Near the beginning of his autobiographical tale, “Travels with Charley,” he writes:
“In Spanish there is a word for which I can't find a counterword in English. It is the verb vacilar, present participle vacilando. It does not mean vacillating at all. If one is vacilando, he is going somewhere, but does not greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction. Everything in the world must have a design or the human mind rejects it. But in addition, it must have purpose or the human conscience shies away from it.”
As a converge my experiences and passions to work with business and government leaders to help them navigate the web and build online communities, they don't need to have a destination defined because we all know the web changes every day with new tools and technologies. But they do need to have a direction, so I can help guide them.