This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans (Create a Strategy to Elevate Your Career, Community & Life)

by Seth Godin

Strategy is a flexible plan that guides us as we seek to create a change. It helps us make decisions over time while working within a system. Strategy is interesting because of the complexity of its two companions: time and systems. Time resets each day, bringing with it new chances to make new decisions. And systems involve the interconnections of multiple people (and their interests) over time. A key aspect of strategic planning is understanding opportunity costs, which are the benefits foregone by choosing one option over another. Strategy demands humility, because accurately predicting the future is impossible. Strategy also involves anticipating and planning for the actions and reactions of other actors within the system. This means considering not only the direct effects of strategic choices but also the indirect effects that come from the responses of competitors, customers, and even the environment. The success of a strategy is contingent not only on your actions but also on the actions of others. If you sell your time at the lowest possible price, you’ll always be busy helping someone else get to where they’re going. Successful people figure out how to trade their time and their effort for the change they seek to make in the world.