Real Strategy Starts with Your Customers
Starting strategizing with a bold vision is like writing the happy ending to a movie before you’ve even started thinking about the plot.
Meet Jane. Jane is the founder and CEO of a private company selling innovative medical diagnostic equipment. Jane wants me to run a strategic retreat for her team. Here’s our dialogue.
Jane doesn’t exist — but I’ve had this conversation with plenty of real CEOs.
Jane: We need a new vision and a bold goal before we dive into strategizing.
Me: What could this vision and goal look like?
Jane: Like, “In three years, our revenue will triple and we’ll be the leader in our niche by creating affordable, top-tier AI-based solutions for medical institutions.”
Me: Do you already know how you’re going to triple your revenue? Do you know what solutions you’ll offer?
Jane: Of course, not. That’s what strategy is for, isn’t it? We define a vision and goal first, and then we craft a strategy to get us there.
Me: Why do you need this vision and goal?
Jane (puzzled): What do you mean? We need them as our North Star, our winning aspiration — to stick the flag in the ground and motivate the team!
Me: But what’s the point of setting a goal if we have no idea how to get there? We don’t even know if those “top-tier AI-based solutions” are really such a great idea. And what if you could do much more and grow your revenue tenfold?
Jane: But isn’t it the way we’ve always done strategy — vision, goals, strategies, tactics?
Me: Do you mean that kind of strategy that fails in 60-90% of cases before it starts? I’d do it differently. I’d start with customers.
Jane: Customers??
Me: Yep. Unmet customer needs are the only real source of growth. They determine how fast you’ll grow and what solutions you’ll need to get there.
This is a mistake many CEOs make – they start with vision and goals.
Never start with vision
If the vision and goal are too “fluffy” — like “We want to be the best of the best by providing the best solutions for our customers” — they’re simply useless. They neither inspire nor give clear direction.
If they are too specific — like “To triple our revenue by creating top-tier AI-based solutions” — they narrow the team’s imagination and make the strategy too rigid.
Vision without a real strategic idea is just a daydream.
Sure, we can picture ourselves getting rich selling AI-powered irons. But if customers don’t want them, we’ll fall flat on our faces.
You’ll have plenty of time to define a vision later. Start with customer interviews and look for unmet needs. Find the basic idea for your strategy, and only then set a goal.
You know very well what it means to sell your products. Now, learn what it means to buy and use them. That’s where the real breakthroughs come from.
In the next section, I’ll share the reasoning framework that helps my clients achieve greater success. You’ll learn why the vision comes at the end of the strategic process.
I’ve prepared a couple of extra insights and practical tips to help you avoid costly mistakes and uncover new growth opportunities — exclusively for paid subscribers to my newsletter Strategic Seeing.
Not ready to subscribe yet? No problem. You can still take a big step forward:
- Join the Architects of Business Growth course, where we’ll go deep into these topics and apply them to your business. The low-price offer ends August 22 — hurry!
- Dive into my book, where you’ll uncover the hidden pitfalls of strategic goals and discover how to turn customer needs into real growth.
- Visit my website.
Svyatoslav Biryulin
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I write about cognitive biases in business strategy, mental models for strategic decision making, and paradoxes in business strategy. Subscribe to get new articles delivered straight to your inbox. Prefer RSS? Subscribe here → https://sbiryulin.com/feed
If you want to dive deeper into strategic thinking — and you’re not afraid to face its paradoxes and provocations — read my book Red and Yellow Strategies: Flip Your Strategic Thinking and Overcome Short-termism.