> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://jonathancanales.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What is a strategy, how to build one, and how to actually execute it - URL: https://jonathancanales.com/en/what-is-a-strategy-how-to-build-one-and-how-to-actually-execute-it/ - Published: 2026-09-29T19:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-19T01:02:53.000Z - Description: You have probably sat in this meeting: someone says "we need a strategy", everyone nods, the whiteboard fills with ideas, and at the end nobody is sure what was decided. - Author: Jonathan Canales - Tags: Strategy and decisions, #en What is a strategy, how to build one, and how to actually execute it 0:00 /388 1× [![Listen on Spotify](https://jonathancanales.com/content/images/2026/10/image-ebade917.jpg)](https://open.spotify.com/show/1RbZ5C2DI8VFR4RA6paicv?ref=jonathancanales.com) [Read in Spanish →](https://jonathancanales.com/que-es-una-estrategia-como-crear-una-y-como-ejecutarla/) You have probably sat in this meeting: someone says "we need a strategy", everyone nods, the whiteboard fills with ideas, and at the end nobody is sure what was decided. The word *strategy* gets used so often that it now means almost anything: a goal, a plan, a to-do list, a well-designed slide deck. And yet, once it is properly understood, it changes the way you work. Let's take it piece by piece. ![Article infographic](https://jonathancanales.com/content/images/2026/10/2-info-p37-en.png) ## What a strategy is (in plain words) A strategy is a **choice**: deciding what you will do and, more importantly, what you will not do. That is all. And that is everything. It helps to separate it from two related concepts that are often confused with it: - **The goal** is where you want to end up. "I want to be a manager in two years." That is a goal, not a strategy. - **The plan** is the list of steps. "Take a course, ask for more responsibility, talk to my boss." That is a plan, not a strategy. - **The strategy** is the logic connecting them: how you will win, with the resources you actually have, in the situation you are actually in. Richard Rumelt, author of one of the most respected books on the subject, reduces it to three pieces: an honest **diagnosis** of the situation, a **guiding policy** (what you will do about it, in general terms), and **coherent actions** that support each other. If one of the three is missing, what remains is a wish with formatting. **Key idea:** a strategy that never forces you to say "no" to something probably isn't a strategy. It's a wish list. I wrote about the difference between working on today's task and working on direction here: [strategic or tactical: the difference that changes how you work](https://jonathancanales.com/en/strategic-or-tactical-the-difference-that-changes-how-you-work-and-how-youre-seen/). ## How to build a strategy, step by step No MBA required. A sheet of paper and one hour of honesty are enough. ### 1\. Diagnosis: what is really going on? Before deciding what to do, understand where you stand. If you are a professional who wants to grow, the diagnosis is not "I want to earn more". It is something like: "I've been doing my job well for two years, but nobody outside my team knows what I do, and I don't have a skill that makes me hard to replace." It is slightly uncomfortable; that is usually why it works. ### 2\. Choose your game You cannot compete on every front. Do you want to be the deepest technical person in your area? The one who best coordinates teams? The one who understands the whole business? These are different paths that demand different things. Choosing one does not mean abandoning the others; it means giving your effort a direction. ### 3\. Define how you will win This is where the guiding policy goes: the central bet. For example: "I will become the person who best understands my area's processes, because that is what the company needs most and nobody is covering it." Notice it already carries an implicit "no": you will not chase five certifications at the same time. ### 4\. Write down what you will NOT do Literally, on the page. It is the hardest part and the most valuable. Every "yes" divides your time; every "no" protects it. ### 5\. Keep it to one page If your strategy doesn't fit on one page, you haven't finished deciding. Clarity is part of the product. ## And now the hard part: executing it This is where most strategies fail, personal and corporate. Not because they are bad, but because they are abandoned. Four habits keep them alive: - **Translate to the week.** Strategy isn't executed "this year"; it is executed on Tuesday. Every week should contain at least one action that pushes your central bet. If three weeks pass without one, the strategy has become decorative. - **One metric, not ten.** Pick one signal of progress (projects led, people outside your team who know your work, hours spent on the key skill) and review it weekly. - **A short, fixed review.** Fifteen minutes, same day, every week: what did I do for my strategy? What is in the way? What comes next? No ceremony. - **Expect friction.** Day-to-day work pulls against you: emails, urgencies, favors. Executing a strategy is not about doing new things all the time; it is about keeping the urgent from displacing the important, week after week. A necessary warning: a strategy is not a contract. If the diagnosis changes (a new boss, your area shuts down, a better opportunity appears), adjust it. Firm on direction, flexible on path. A strategy survives better when everyday work runs as a system; I wrote about that here: [why every team needs a systems thinker](https://jonathancanales.com/en/why-every-team-needs-a-systems-thinker/). ## What it looks like in practice Take a typical case: an analyst with four years of experience. Her diagnosis: she does her job well, but she is invisible outside her team and all her knowledge lives in her head. Her one-page strategy: - **Chosen game:** become the go-to person for her area's processes. - **Central bet:** document and improve the two processes that cause the most pain, and teach them to other teams. - **Coherent actions:** one documented process per month, one short presentation per quarter to other areas, a seat on the projects where those processes break. - **Her "no"s:** no tasks nobody sees or records; no chasing new tools just because they're trendy. - **Metric:** how many people outside her team come to her with process questions. Nothing sophisticated. And that is exactly why it can be executed on any given Tuesday, which is where strategies live or die. ## An exercise for this week Take a sheet of paper and write, one line per point: 1. My real situation today (diagnosis, no decoration). 2. The game I choose to play. 3. My central bet for winning it. 4. Two things I will say no to. 5. This week's action. Five lines. If it takes more than an hour, it is being overcomplicated. And if the first line was uncomfortable to write, that is a good sign: that is usually where the truth lives. The first step is not doing more things. It is deciding which ones you won't. --- *Source: the diagnosis, guiding policy and coherent actions structure comes from "Good Strategy Bad Strategy" by Richard Rumelt.*