What I No Longer Believe About Strategy

And what I’ve learned to do instead

When I started my career, I thought strategy was about execution. You got a request, you answered it. You were handed pieces of a story, and your job was to fill in the blanks. I worked in cable at the time—an industry that, to my surprise, was incredibly advanced when it came to data. Pricing models, ad spend, projections and tracking—it was a well-oiled machine.

So at the time, I believed most people knew what research they needed and what the strategy would be. Or at least someone did.

However... that thought didn’t last long.

The Small Business Reality Check

My first big shift came when I started freelancing with small businesses. These teams were passionate, scrappy, full of ideas—but under-resourced and used heavily manual ways of working. What shocked me wasn’t that they lacked data—it was that they had so much of it, and weren’t using it. Data lived in separate systems, stored in different formats, manual calculations, or note apps.

Automation was missing. Dashboards didn’t exist. Reports were built once and forgotten. Same calculations done over, over and over again. 

So I started building. I designed templates people actually wanted to use and created consistency. Tools that organized reporting, revealed insights, and sparked better conversations. Tracked KPIs and business metrics. And the feedback was immediate. I wasn’t just making my job easier, I was creating a new way of working and internally strategy that could support insights and scaling. 

That experience taught me something critical:

People don’t always need more data. They need clarity on what they have—and that can bring scaling to new levels.

The Corporate Blind Spot

But the bigger revelation came later—when I stepped into corporate environments outside of cable. Suddenly, I was surrounded by departments that should have access to robust data stacks, research teams, analytics tools… and yet, I noticed something strange.

There were so many questions left unanswered.

Not because the data didn’t exist. But because no one knew who or what to ask for and why. 

That’s when it clicked:

Most companies are data-rich and insight-poor.

And a lot of decisions were being made based on assumptions.

Having come from data teams, I knew this information had to be somewhere and I was hopeful it would be accurate. So I started doing what I now consider core to my practice: I asked for it. I looked for it.All else fails, I create it. 

Whether through reporting, dashboards, research, or just deeper conversations—I didn’t wait for someone to hand me the insights I knew we needed to build strategic decisions. I hunted it down. Letting the assumptions and theories guide the questions and collecting data points along the way. 

What I Believe Now

Today, I lead a different strategy. I don’t assume the right questions have been asked. I don’t assume someone else has part of the story. And I definitely don’t assume a clear question will arrive on its own. 

Instead, I assume everything can and should be questioned. I follow my gut and lead data-first—but human-centered. If the data doesn’t exist, I ask the question to get it. If the formulas or dashboard do not exist, I build the system to track it. If the direction isn’t clear, I start with conversation to see it. I listen, read between the lines, and reverse-engineer what teams are really trying to figure out.

And when I shape the story, I overthink it. Making sure it’s:

• Clear and Simple – No buzzwords, no confusion. If it doesn’t make sense to everyone, it’s not ready.

• Emotionally Grounded – Empathy and behavior aren’t soft—they’re strategic.

• Realistic but Visionary – 2 + 2 = 4. If you want 7, we can do that! But just know we need to add 3. Good strategy shows you how data can create accuracy and possibilities.

Myths I’ve Let Go

• That research needs to be assigned or requested to be valuable

• That you can’t know if something will work until it’s live

• That all strategies already have data behind them

The truth? Strategy is made in the questions we’re willing to ask. And the courage to keep asking when the answers aren’t handed to us. Just like users do not always know what they want, neither do stakeholders. 

What Good Strategy Looks Like (In Practice)

Good strategy makes sense. There’s no hand-waving, no vague direction. It tells a story people can follow. Gives a story to manifest. It connects the dots between business objectives, user needs, and vision clarity.

It doesn’t require a 50-slide deck. It might look like a whiteboard, a journey map, a sticky note with a powerful insight or a deep conversation.

Plans work best when it’s co-created with different perspectives of the human experience the strategy affects. I don’t prefer to work in isolation. I prefer to grow from collaboration with others. In workshops, team meetings, sharing ideas, asking questions and adding parts to the story we are building.

Because when everyone can give their perspective, the vision becomes real.

The Thought Leader I Now Strive to Be

I never want to be a business-first leader. I want to be a user-first, system-aware and holistic thought leader moving with intention. A light guide to the ship. 

One who builds strategy that are:

• User friendly internally and joyful externally

• Celebrate simplicity and creativity

• Always curious by default 

• And rooted in the belief that data brings clarity

What I’d Tell Other Problem Solvers

Don’t wait to be told the problem. Just listen to it.

Don’t assume data is unavailable. Create a source. 

And learn how to tell the story, not just hand over the data but start the conversation. 

It all adds to your experience and expertise.  

Listen deeply. Map behaviors. Show your work. And always, always remember: strategy is more than a plan, it is the clarity, the vision and removing the complexity. It drives solutions to problems others may not know even existed. 

& if it doesn’t make sense to you, it won’t work for anyone else.

Then once it makes sense - it feels like you stacked the dominos perfectly!It won’t just guide a project.It will shape how people think.

It will change how you think. 

And create new possibilities. 

Changing your process and beliefs too.