Strategy is fundamentally about choices.
When we write down our (company, personal) strategy for the coming year, we are articulating the things we will prioritize differently, the things we will put more time and resources behind because we believe that doing so will lead to better results.
This means that all good strategy is about change. We implement our strategy by shifting from what we used to do—which was comfortable—to what we are going to do now—which is new, and therefore harder.
The bridge from here to there is conviction.
Conviction that the new path is right.
Conviction that we must give up some of the things that got us, even if that’s hard in the short term.
Conviction that even if we don’t see the yield of our new strategy immediately, we will give it time to play out before reverting to our old ways of doing things.
Conviction, of course, is itself a decision.
It’s a choice in the face of unknowns and uncertainties.
It’s a recognition that through the acts of believing and follow-through we shape reality, transforming something that could be into something that is.
Strategy without conviction is just words on a page.
