Where are we?

Recently, I was asked to create a slide for a senior leader. The content included LOTS of words and numbers in an Excel table. The words, of course, were needed to describe those numbers. The audience would be fellow senior leaders and company executives. The purpose, provide a general update on "where we are."

Immediately my mind went into solution mode. How do we tell the story of the Excel table and his friends, all those words? What graphics could I dig up? Ooo! A journey theme would be really cool for a "Where are we" slide. What icons can I grab? What's the branding? Do we have a template for the meeting? Oh, and when do they need the first draft?

All the questions.

And then one question like dim candlelight in the back of my brain started to glow ever brighter. Where are we? Where ARE we? How did we get HERE? Where are we... going? Do we have a general direction guiding us?

This is why strategy is important. Strategy, at the most basic, is the agreed-upon positions that lead to sustainable advantages or initiatives to deliver expected returns. It tells us the Why of what we do. Any Simon Sinek fans? You already know - Start with Why. The clear and compelling reason WHY we do the things.

"Strategy is not the consequence of planning but the opposite: its starting point."

— Henry Mintzberg

I could create the most beautiful journey slide. Beyond that - A journey slide experience! But with no agreed-upon goal, no destination, it wouldn't resonate. It would just be that - a very lovely story on a beautiful slide. It might tell about Table, and their friend Words and how together, they found Numbers, and they all had a merry time - but would it have MEANING and IMPACT for this audience?

A fancy slide does not tell the story we want without the context of strategy. You cannot tell where you are without the WHY you went there.