Strategic Management Cheat Sheet
How to plan for the future while surviving the present
1Strategic Planning Basics
- Vision statement: What you want to become. Should inspire, not induce eye-rolling.
- Mission statement: What you do and why. Keep under 25 words or nobody will remember it.
- Core values: Principles guiding behavior. If 'integrity' is one, you're not trying hard enough.
- Strategic objectives: Specific goals. If they're all achievable, they're not ambitious enough.
2Analysis Tools That Actually Work
- SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. Not to be confused with SWAT teams.
- PESTLE: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental. Or 'things to blame when plans fail'.
- Porter's Five Forces: Competition, new entrants, substitutes, suppliers, customers. The original business pentagram.
- Scenario Planning: Planning for multiple futures. Like writing alternate endings where your business survives.
3Strategy Implementation Hacks
- Break it down: Convert big goals into quarterly targets. Then into monthly. Then hide when people ask for weekly.
- Resource alignment: Put your money where your strategy is. Novel concept.
- Communication plan: Tell everyone the strategy 7 times in 7 ways. They'll still say they never heard it.
- KPI tracking: If you can't measure it, you can't improve it. If you can measure it, you can take credit for it.
4Strategy Pivot Signs
- Market shift: When customers start ghosting you for a competitor, pivot time.
- Consistent missed targets: Three quarters of excuses means your strategy needs CPR.
- Team confusion: If your team can't explain the strategy in simple terms, it's too complex.
- New technology: When disruptors enter your space, adapt or become Blockbuster 2.0.
Quick Tips & Tricks
- Strategy should be clear enough to fit on one page
- If your strategy could apply to any company, it's too generic
- Review quarterly, revise annually, but don't change direction with every market hiccup
- The best strategy solves customer problems better than alternatives (revolutionary, we know)
The Last Word
Strategic planning is like trying to fold a fitted sheet. It looks complicated, few people can do it well, and everyone's just trying to make it look presentable.
Life's too short for boring management. Make it count.
Management Master™
Pro tip: Pin these cheat sheets to your office wall or slip them into your notebook for emergency management situations.