Two questions that replace your entire strategy deck

As a CEO or founder, you’ve probably been through the motions of traditional strategic planning: crafting vision and mission statements, setting KPIs, and presenting a deck full of market analysis and fancy graphics. It feels thorough, even impressive—but deep down, you know it isn’t working. Why? Because most strategies fail the one test that matters: clarity.

Ask yourself this—if I woke up my team at 3 a.m. and asked them what our strategy is, would they be able to tell me? Better yet, could they explain how their work directly contributes to it? If the answer is no, your strategy needs a serious overhaul.

Here’s how you fix it: by cutting through the noise and focusing on the essentials. Forget the vision statements and 30-slide decks. Instead, focus on two transformative questions:

This approach distils strategy down to its essence—clear direction and ruthless prioritisation.

A Better Approach: Crystal Clear Focus

1. Define Your Destination
Where do you want your business to be in 2–3 years? This is about moving into a more powerful position —a place where you dominate your niche, achieve leverage, or build resilience. Your destination should be specific and measurable.

2. Identify the Crux
What’s the single biggest challenge or opportunity standing in your way? Be ruthless. This is the problem you need to solve or the opportunity you need to seize.

Bringing This to Life: 3 Examples

Framework	SaaS for Automated Customer Support	EdTech for Online Learning Platforms	Specialty Coffee Roaster
Stronger Position	Be the default choice for mid-sized businesses in North America, owning 30% market share and achieving category dominance.	Dominate coding bootcamp software, with 25% adoption across regional bootcamps and colleges.	Become the preferred supplier for high-end cafés, increasing direct wholesale accounts by 50%.
Crux	High customer acquisition costs limiting growth.	Limited adoption due to steep learning curve for instructors.	Lack of brand awareness in the target café and restaurant niche.
Crux Priorities	Reduce acquisition costs by 30%.	Make the platform easier for instructors to adopt.	Build brand recognition and trust with premium cafés.
Annual Priorities	Launch a referral programme by Q2. Build a self-serve onboarding platform by Q3. Form 5 key partnerships.	Develop onboarding tools for instructors by Q2. Run free pilots with top bootcamps. Improve usability by Q4.	Host 10 tasting events for café owners. Create a wholesale starter kit by Q3. Secure 10 distribution partners by year-end.
Quarterly Priorities	Q1: Design referral programme, engage leads. Q2: Launch referral programme, build MVP onboarding. Q3: Optimise onboarding, finalise partnerships. Q4: Roll out onboarding, close 5 partnerships.	Q1: Research pain points, prototype tools. Q2: Launch tools, sign 3 pilots. Q3: Refine usability, gather testimonials. Q4: Scale outreach, expand bootcamps.	Q1: Target cafés, build distributor relationships. Q2: Host 5 events, launch starter kit pilot. Q3: Finalise kit, secure 5 distributors. Q4: Host final 5 events, close deals.

Why This Works

Clarity: Everyone knows the destination and the crux. They can explain it at 3 a.m. without hesitation.
Focus: Resources are channelled into solving the biggest challenge, not diluted across 10 competing goals.
Actionable: Each level of priorities connects directly to execution, ensuring measurable progress.

Inspiration from the Greats

This approach is inspired by two heavy weights in the world of business and strategy. Andy Grove, Intel’s legendary CEO, defined strategy as moving into a more powerful position. Richard Rumelt emphasised the crux—the pivotal challenge to overcome.

Combining these ideas with the elegance of being able to describe the strategy at 3am gives you a framework that ensures your team knows what matters, why it matters, and what they must do next.

Focus, clarity and priorities ensure you can navigate your business into a more powerful position.

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