Probably the leadership level work that I have enjoyed the most over the last few years has been working on company level strategies. The boost in energy you get as you write down a list of dos and don'ts, discover areas of conflict that you didn't know existed and make a clear, simple statement to everyone at the company on where you are going is amazing. The process is also short (it takes days) and collaborative - you get to work intensely with your peers in a way that can really alter your perspective on how the company operates. Once you have the strategy written down of course, it's a living document that allows you to delegate far more decisions than you were able to previously, so the whole company gets a speed boost once it's out in the wild, the quality of decision making improves and you also give people far more latitude to both challenge and take ownership of decision making. Every management book will tell you to have a written strategy, but often I think it is neglected. Here's a template that can work well, based on the process described in Playing to Win (if you've not led a strategy process before, I'd recommend reading that book first). I've filled in some examples for a fictional EV manufacturer to get you started.

Strategy Template

What is strategy?

Strategy is not a roadmap, it is a set of powerful choices that combine to position the company to win over the next n (e.g. 3-5) years. There are 5 key choices in Strategy.

What is our winning aspiration?
Where will we play?
How will we win where we have chosen to play?
What capabilities must be in place to win?
What management systems are required to ensure the capabilities are in place?

For each of the above, we have prepared tables of Do’s and Don’ts, along with our reasoning and a series of example scenarios to sharpen our thinking. The idea is to show our working so these ideas can be used to challenge us as well as empower you to make more decisions that you feel align well to this strategy.

We recommend that you first read it from beginning to end to capture the overall flavour and to understand How We Will Win. Then, revisit this document for reference when you have decisions to make and want to evaluate which options best align with our strategy. And if you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to the leadership team.

How to use this document

This document is intended to provide decision-makers at your company with the information necessary to make decisions that align with company strategy. We particularly focus on where we will play and how we will win. This strategy is a living document, and we commit to maintaining it on a quarterly basis going forwards.

What is our winning aspiration?

Vision, Mission and Winning Aspiration, Max one sentence each.

Vision

How do we see the world?

e.g. A world where cars and homes are powered only by green, renewable energy

Mission

How will we deliver on our vision?

e.g. Deliver cars and lower CO2 emissions for people everywhere.

Winning aspiration

What will mean we have delivered on our mission?

e.g. To sell 100m cars by 2030.

Goals

Numeric measures of success that we can use to track our progress towards our strategy.

Where will we play?

Make three choices of where we will play. Fill in Do’s and Don’t to give examples of what this means in practice. Give concrete examples of decisions that we have made that are aligned to this strategy in the should we/shouldn’t we table.

Example: Electric cars for the mainstream

e.g. This is where our customers are today. Succeeding here gives us scale of users and data to provide the launchpad to expand into … (this is where our customers will be tomorrow).

Do	Why?
Prefer electric only models to hybrid	We believe this is the best way to establish trust with our customers that we have superior EV technology

Don’t	Why
Don’t tweet publically about taking the company private	We should be focussed on operating an EV manufacturing business more efficiently, not speculating publically on the future of the company.

Should we/shouldn’t we?	Why or why not?
Launch a car from a space shuttle	Yes, as we want to astonish the world with our chutzpah.

How will we win?

Example: Provide a brilliant, digital-first driving experience

Deliver seamless products and services, powered by superior technology and supported by exceptional people. Happy customers are more loyal and talk to their friends, resulting in lifetime value going up and cost of acquisition going down.

Do	Why?
Provide seamless, digital first user journeys across all interactions	This differentiates us from others in the industry and leads to increased levels of automation and decreased reason for people to need support from a human.

Don’t	Why
Scale products or features before they can be supported.	This would mean our customers have had a bad experience because their problem can’t be solved straight away.

Should we/shouldn’t we?	Why or why not?
Offer a budget version of our cars	No, we care about providing an exceptional experience for everyone, moving down market would mean cutting costs that would undermine this experience.

What capabilities as an organisation do we need to establish to pull this off?

Pinpoint the core capabilities we have today (and those that we need to build) to enable our where-to-play and how-to-win choices. Include concrete examples of what to do vs what not to do.

How should our values change to deliver on this strategy?

A list of cultural things that need to change to do this. Include concrete examples of what to do vs what not to do.

# Strategy Template

### What is strategy?

Strategy is not a roadmap, it is a set of powerful choices that combine to position the company to win over the next *n (e.g. 3-5)* years. There are 5 key choices in Strategy.

- What is our winning aspiration?
- Where will we play?
- How will we win where we have chosen to play?
- What capabilities must be in place to win?
- What management systems are required to ensure the capabilities are in place?

For each of the above, we have prepared tables of Do's and Don'ts, along with our reasoning and a series of example scenarios to sharpen our thinking. The idea is to show our working so these ideas can be used to challenge us as well as empower you to make more decisions that you feel align well to this strategy.

We recommend that you first read it from beginning to end to capture the overall flavour and to understand CLEARLY _Where we will play_ and _How We Will Win_. Then, revisit this document for reference when you have decisions to make and want to evaluate which options best aligns with our strategy. And if you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out and ask the authors of this strategy. 

## How to use this document

This document is intended to provide decision-makers at __your company__ with the information necessary to make decisions that align with company strategy. We particularly focus on where we will play and how we will win. This strategy is a living document, and we commit to maintaining it on a quarterly basis going forwards.

## What is our winning aspiration?

*Vision, Mission and Winning Aspiration, Max one sentence each.*

### Vision 
*How do we see the world?* 

*e.g. A world where cars and homes are powered only by green, renewable energy*

### Mission
*How will we deliver on our vision?* 

*e.g. Deliver cars and lower CO2 emissions for people everywhere.*

### Winning aspiration
*What will mean we have delivered on our mission?* 

*e.g. To sell 100m cars by 2030.*

## Goals

*Numeric measures of success that we can use to track our progress towards our strategy.*

## Where will we play?

*Make three choices of where we will play. Fill in Do’s and Don’t to give examples of what this means in practice. Give concrete examples of decisions that we have made that are aligned to this strategy in the should we/shouldn’t we table.*

### Example: Electric cars for the mainstream

*e.g. This is where our customers are today. Succeeding here gives us scale of users and data to provide the launchpad to expand into ... (this is where our customers will be tomorrow).*

| Do | Why? |
| --- | --- |
| Prefer electric only models to hybrid | We believe this is the best way to establish trust with our customers that we have superior EV technology |

| Don’t | Why |
| --- | --- |
| Don’t tweet publically about taking the company private | We should be focussed on operating an EV manufacturing business more efficiently, not speculating publically on the future of the company. |

| Should we/shouldn’t we? | Why or why not? |
| --- | --- |
| Launch a car from a space shuttle | Yes, as we want to astonish the world with our chutzpah. |

## How will we win?

### Example: Provide a brilliant, digital-first driving experience

Deliver seamless products and services, powered by superior technology and supported by exceptional people. Happy customers are more loyal and talk to their friends, resulting in lifetime value going up and cost of acquisition going down.

| Do | Why? |
| --- | --- |
| Provide seamless, digital first user journeys across all interactions | This differentiates us from others in the industry and leads to increased levels of automation and decreased reason for people to need support from a human. |

| Don’t | Why |
| --- | --- |
| Scale products or features before they can be supported. | This would mean our customers have had a bad experience because their problem can't be solved straight away. |

| Should we/shouldn’t we? | Why or why not? |
| --- | --- |
| Offer a budget version of our cars | No, we care about providing an exceptional experience for everyone, moving down market would mean cutting costs that would undermine this experience. |

## What capabilities as an organisation do we need to establish to pull this off?

*Pinpoint the core capabilities we have today (and those that we need to build) to enable our where-to-play and how-to-win choices. Include concrete examples of what to do vs what not to do.*

## How should our values change to deliver on this strategy?

*At list of cultural things that need to change to do this. Include concrete examples of what to do vs what not to do.*