"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." -- Sun Tzu, ancient Chinese military strategist. All leaders must possess a strong understanding of the difference between strategy and tactics. Simply put, strategy represents long-term thinking: the framework organizing what you do over years or decades to achieve your ultimate goals. Tactics involves individual steps towards those goals—the things you do today to prepare for tomorrow to achieve that strategy. Leaders surely recognize these definitions, but employees don’t always understand the distinction, because most focus on the operational day-to-day activities required to keep the money flowing. As a result, it can be difficult to get them to invest time on … [Read more...]