The System Behind Strategy

A few years back, I sat in a meeting where we were supposed to talk about... Strategy.

We started by defining the word. As each person spoke, something felt off in a way I couldn't name.

That's when I saw it:

We were treating strategy like a list of moves, when it's really about understanding the game itself.

Most agencies approach strategy by asking "What should we do?" But that's tactical thinking. The real strategic questions are:

"What transformational story are we writing?"

"What system are we operating in?"

"How does time change the game?"

"What tensions need to be resolved?"

The agencies that truly transform their clients' businesses understand this. They know that strategy isn't about perfect plans—it's about seeing the invisible currents that shape behavior and drive change.

The real question isn't just how we'll win...

But who we must become to win in a way that matters.

In that meeting, we had reduced a living system to a series of checkboxes. In trying to make strategy concrete, we had made it mechanical. But systems aren't machines—they pulse with human desires, fears, and aspirations.

This reveals something deeper about how agencies lose their way. We focus on outputs—campaigns, websites, content—while ignoring the system that creates them. Every rushed campaign and misaligned client relationship isn't a one-off mistake, but a symptom of the system we've created.

So ask yourself: Are your strategic choices creating a sustainable system or just a temporary advantage?

The most important strategic question remains:

What system are we actually building and why?