My day job is working as a brand strategist for companies and organizations. For decades, that work has been guided by a simple definition: a brand is the promise you make to those you serve about how you help them. If a brand says, “This is how we help,” then strategy is the coherent, integrated set of choices—markets, offerings, capabilities, and systems—that make it possible to keep that promise consistently.

Strategy is not a long planning document, a budget, or a list of initiatives. It is a set of clear, integrated choices that guide which plans and initiatives actually make sense. And just as articulating a brand promise is a priceless opportunity to build internal understanding and alignment, so too is the process of strategic planning itself.

In this article, Jennifer Riel argues that because strategy is ultimately brought to life by people across an organization, the process must actively involve those who will carry it out. They can then tightly connect strategy design to day-to-day execution. She advocates for human-centered, iterative approaches—such as prototyping, storytelling, and regular learning loops—that produce strategies far more actionable and adaptable than static documents. She does it by dismantling seven common myths about how strategy is created and used.

ARTICLE: The 7 Myths of Strategy

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