When Strategy Does Not Work

I'm fresh from a long meeting with a VC. It was a good meeting. Potentially very good. But one thing was on my mind during the several hours' long discussion, which was looking extremely far ahead and from a very far perspective. I felt like we were playing a game of chess. Moving the pieces on the chess board. Discussing what the opponent will do. Planning our subsequent counter moves. It is easy on the chessboard. Because you can execute every move you want.

Which is not the case in real life. In real life the challenge is to actually execute the planned move. This is this extra level of complication the strategists often forget about. You have the pawn sitting on the D2 square. And you plan the D2-D4 move. And the pawn does not move. It behaves like glued to the D2. Surprised? What about your strategy then?

Real life of an entrepreneur is not a chessboard. It is not only about the strategy. First and foremost it is about being able to execute the planned move. Many strategists make this mistake. They assume they are playing chess. "If we move from D2 to D4 then...". But what if you are still sitting on D2?

Any business, startup or grown up, is about down to Earth execution. Only if the execution works, you can go a level higher and start planning the strategy. Start with removing the ifs... In chess a move is atomic. It happens in no time and is precise. In real life a move takes time and you never end up precisely where you planned. If you manage to move at all...

Failure in recognizing execution is the risk and the real challenge, almost always makes any strategy useless. In business strategy planning you can only plan a direction. Like "we should ho towards D4". As soon as you pick the direction, start moving and move fast. As fast as you can. Because your opponent won't wait until you finish your move. They keep on moving when you are still thinking. If you are slow, the game may end with your pieces still in the starting position.

Having said that I have to admit running a business is the most difficult, complicated, demanding and challenging game I have ever played. Sometimes it even becomes a real war. This is why it is so addictive too. And why victory, if reached, tastes so sweet.