What Is Strategy?

To many people, strategy is a total mystery. But it’s really not complicated, says Harvard Business School’s Felix Oberholzer-Gee. Companies should simplify and focus on two value drivers, he argues: customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction. By aligning strategic initiatives on these alone, leaders make their workers’ jobs less complicated and improve customer experiences.

Oberholzer-Gee is the author of the Harvard Business Review article “Eliminate Strategic Overload” as well as the book “Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance”