this isn’t a strategy

I’ve scribbled these four words in the margins of plenty of strategy documents.
They’re not a good sign.

Nearly every strategy document ever created is designed to deliver some version of MORE.

More sales. More growth. More profit. More people. More impact. More freedom. More influence.
To bother with a strategy at all is to admit to wanting more.
But my four, frequently scribbled words are:

“More isn’t a strategy!”

If your strategy headline is some version of - more customers, more products, more often - then you’ve misunderstood the task.

Look at your strategy and list out all the things you've said "no" to.
Then, even better, all the things you're actively going to stop.

The most revealing strategy question isn't: what more?
But: what less?