what is strategy, really?

Strategic thinking helps us take positions in a world that is confusing and uncertain. You can’t get rid of ambiguity and uncertainty—they are the flip side of opportunity. I liked this comment from an interview with Richard Rumelt 

He goes on to say that we should distinguish what he calls "rolling plans" from strategy. For him, strategy is about exploiting some change in the environment:  in technology for example, or consumer tastes. Strategic planning, he says is opportunity-driven. Our annual 'strategic planning' efforts should be called 'long term resource planning, he says, and separated from the strategic thinking activities that need to respond to change, and respond early.

How does this affect a new manager? Personally, it implies that you should have two distinct ways of thinking about  your future - one 'resource planning' which is your plan for what you'll learn in your new role and how you'll learn it:

 and the other a more 'strategic' approach where you look out for subtle changes in what's taken for granted, for the emerging work  or career opportunities, any straws in the wind that indicate what you need to be ready for.

At work, where does strategic planning and strategy fit in for the new manager? It's the kind of thinking you need  to do as you look around your organisation, think about your team and staff development. Where is the organisation going? where is your part of it going? and most importantly, what are the changes that you need to be aware of? What are your customers saying, for example?  What do the people in your network at work complain or worry about? How is this all changing? If you think in this way from time to time, you can pick up the subtle changes that may affect your team and that you need to be ready for.

As Rumfelt says, Strategic thinking helps us take positions in a world that is confusing and uncertain. 

That applies to most of us these days.