Peter Attia begins part two of Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity with a quote from Sun Tzu.
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. — Sun Tzu
We (or at least I) often don’t differentiate between strategy and tactics. I see it in my own teaching.
Too often, I think about how an entrepreneur can better tell their story without thinking about whether it is the right story to tell.
How to most efficiently enter a market rather than whether it is the right market to enter.
Even though I don’t (often) get dragged down to the level of font choice in the PowerPoint deck or keyword selection for ads too early in the process, I’m still too often thinking about tactics before there is a strategy.
Premature optimization is the root of all evil. — Donald Knuth.
While I grew up with Knuth’s words of wisdom, that was about avoiding writing programs badly rather than about writing the right program; meeting the right need.
What advice do you, yourself, offer to early-stage companies, or mentees in general, that rises to the level of strategy?
What do you personally do to help assure that the right strategy is in place before proceeding to tactics?
