A Plan Is Not a Strategy

STRATEGY

A Plan Is Not a Strategy

Great strategy is critical to the success of every organization. That notwithstanding, most managers find strategy to be more complicated, arduous and ineffectual than either they would wish or is productive for their organizations. It doesn’t have to be so. Strategy can and should be simple, fun and effective. But that requires a clear definition of what strategy is and a simple process for making strategy choices.

– Roger Martin

A Plan Is Not a Strategy

A comprehensive plan—with goals, initiatives, and budgets–is comforting. But starting with a plan is a terrible way to make strategy.

Roger Martin, former dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and one of the world’s leading thinkers on strategy, says developing strategy means going outside an organization’s comfort zone and escaping the common traps of strategic planning.