Why I Signed a Waiver to Test My Strategy: Part Two, Strategy

Part One on Vision can be found here.

Why Strategy is About What You Don’t Do

TL;DR:

• Strategy is about choices under constraints, not doing everything.

• More information isn’t better; targeted, trusted data is strategic gold.

• The most powerful strategic moves often come with tradeoffs.

• Don’t ask the internet what kind of shoes you should wear

  
  

  

  
  

  North Vancouver in February: 4°C, rain coming at you sideways, and a headlamp beam bouncing off endless puddles. 

  
  

  April in Arizona: 37°C, sun baking the trail, dust in your teeth. 

  No training block covers both. 

  
  

  Welcome to the reality of preparing for the inaugural edition of a race that is an unfathomable distance, in a climate with which you have no experience.

  
  

  The Preparation Dilemma: 

  
  

  The race vision was clear: run 300 miles (500 km) and finish in under 170 hours. Read Part One here.

  Now I had to set my strategy for the race and training plan, breaking down the vision into manageable training blocks.

  
  

  When I signed up for the Arizona 300, I knew some factors were trainable (elevation gain, pacing, night running, nutrition and hydration choices, lack of sleep). 

  
  

  Others were impossible to prepare for, given the constraints of time, money and geographic location. (heat, desert terrain, extreme distances under extreme race conditions). 

  
  

  That’s the first insight: strategy is inherently uncertain. 

  
  

  I had no idea if I could run that far or that long, but I knew there were certain things I could do to put myself in the best position possible to finish. I also knew I would learn a lot along the way that would help me in my pursuit of finishing. 

  
  

  EdgeOS Parallel:

  
  

  Navigating business strategy is a similar exercise.

  
  

  Once the vision is clear, strategy is what brings it to life. But strategy does not have all the answers.

  The questions that are at the heart of strategy are:

  
  

  • What is the aspiration, and in what timeframe?

  • What markets will provide the opportunity to reach your aspiration?

  • How will you differentiate yourself in those markets and win?

    
    

  As Roger Martin states in Playing To Win, the answer to these questions is your strategic hypothesis. 

  
  

  It can be viewed as the first step on the path to realizing your vision, recognizing that adaptation and resilience are necessary over time.

  
  

  

  Race Strategy:

  
  

  We calculated a sustainable pace, knowing we needed to cover the equivalent distance of two marathons a day for six consecutive days. That would leave time to finish if anything went wrong. 

  We planned to move eighteen hours out of every twenty-four, which left six hours for refuelling and rest.

  
  

  With nineteen aid stations, we could plan our stops, refuelling and support crew variables.

  We compiled the information into a massive spreadsheet that framed our race strategy and informed the development of our training plans, all before we started putting one foot in front of the other.

  
  

  

  
  

  The Parallel to Business Strategy: 

  Most executive teams spend their strategy time discussing current business problems that need to be solved. 

  
  

  Focus on the now happens for two reasons:

  • Executives and managers are wired for certainty; discussing a hypothesis about the future does not feel like a valuable use of time when there are problems in the business to solve

  • Most leadership teams confuse the process of creating strategy with the function of planning, combining them into a single meeting called “strategic planning.” They are two critical processes, but they are separate: first, set the strategy, then create plans to achieve it.

    
    

  The value of having strategic discussions about the future is that it helps suspend the focus on current business problems and clarifies which issues need to be solved to achieve your future state, not just those that are present in the business today. It is possible that some of the most significant perceived problems are not even part of your strategy, so why expend resources to solve them?

  It can’t be emphasized enough that strategy is about choices.

  
  

  Tradeoffs: 

  As we prepared for the race, the strategy required a focus on relentless forward progress, rather than speed. The plan was to finish, not to try and win. That was a choice that dictated many subsequent decisions.

  
  

  Our training plan was measured in hours on our feet, not speed per kilometre. Short fast runs were not helpful.

  
  

  The race strategy ensured that sleep was prioritized early, and we focused on natural foods that are easy to digest, rich in energy, and have great taste.

  
  

  It was essential to build muscular resilience. In the first block of training, I focused on gym sessions rather than accumulating miles, despite my anxiety about the extreme mileage.

  
  

  A critical constraint was time. Both the time allocated for training each week and the total time before the race started. I made decisions daily that supported the vision: completing the race in under 170 hours.

  
  

  Your business is no different. 

  
  

  There are infinite ways in which you can spend your time, money and the talents of your team, but there are only a few ways to apply those resources that will get the results you desire.

  
  

  Identify the highest-value strategic choices and disregard all other distractions. Then formulate the strategy and its communication in a straightforward manner so that it guides your teams to make informed decisions every day. I will expand on the “how” in the third installment on execution.

  
  

  A significant difference between my race strategy and your business is that I was the only one creating and executing my plan; for you, the people building the strategy and the people implementing the strategy are different.

  
  

  The Noise Problem:

  There are so many “experts” on social media.

  
  

  As I tried to wrap my mind around my strategy, I devoured everything I could find on ultras. I joined Facebook groups, perfected Google searches, and made a custom GPT. 

  
  

  It was overwhelming, and often the information contradicted itself. It became disabling.

  
  

  I narrowed my focus onto a few trusted sources and ignored the rest of the noise.

  
  

  As you develop your strategy, you will likely encounter similar issues. 

  
  

  Your organization likely has a wealth of data on the markets you are targeting, along with many opinions on what it will take to win; however, not all of it will be helpful. 

  
  

  Choose the sources you trust, continually test your hypothesis, and be aware that as you learn more, you will likely need to adjust your approach. Too much data is as big an issue as not enough.

  One enormous pivot I had to make was shoe choice. My favourite trail runners changed models, and the new model did not fit very well. With less than ten months to the race, I found myself testing shoes. 

  
  

  The plethora of opinions on the best shoes for ultras was unimaginable. Luckily, I found the perfect pair of shoes. I went through four pairs in training and three pairs during the race - you are welcome, Brooks.

  
  

  Key Leadership Takeaways:

  If you don’t have a coherent strategy step one is to get the leadership team together and host a strategic offsite. Here is a link to a white paper about running successful strategic offsites: Five Imperatives for an Exceptional Strategic Offsite

  
  

  If you do feel like you have a strategy, assess it for two things:

  • Level of uncertainty - if your strategy is a list of things you know you will achieve or are 100% under your control, you probably don’t have a strategy, you have a plan

  • Informed decision making - if your strategy has the appropriate amount of uncertainty, ask yourself, does your strategy inform the daily decisions of your team?

    
    

  If you answered yes to both these questions, you are in a great position, and now it is execution time (watch for part three on execution).

  
  

  If you are unsure about either question, it is time to review your strategy: if only I knew someone to recommend for that……oh wait, that is what I do!

  
  

  Next in the Series:

  In Part 3, we’ll cover execution — where strategy meets reality, and the ability to adapt without losing sight of the vision makes all the difference.