The Art of Strategy

Can You Define Strategy?

Most business professionals understand what a business plan is - it has a structured format: market opportunity, a differentiated solution, competitive advantage, and a go-to-market plan. Business strategy, however, lacks such a universally recognized structure or definition.

As a result, business plans are often mistaken for strategies, leading to a frustrating “choose-your-own-adventure” approach to strategy development. This can result in endless debates, misalignment, and a sense of spinning wheels rather than making progress.

Yet, strategy is essential because it contextualizes a business plan within dynamic market conditions, enabling adaptation and resilience.

At Trigate Coaching , we ground our practice in a clear definition of strategy as a set of choices leading to coherent actions that achieve an aspiration.

This definition provides a roadmap for leaders and teams to master strategy by focusing on three critical elements:

• An aspirational role for the organization in the context of industry, market, and organizational dynamics.
• A clearly articulated possibility space of choices the organization can make.
• A process for testing, pivoting, and communicating strategy to align the organization.

A plan is not a strategy. Rather, plans emerge from and adapt to strategy.

Great strategy is not a static document; it requires a mindset, an engagement process, and a structured methodology that defines an organization’s unique role in navigating complexity. The Trigate Strategy Coaching Framework organizes strategic thinking into five interconnected pillars: Mindset, Systems, Position, Choices, and Action.

Strategy: A Blend of Art and Science

In our companion article, The Science of Strategy (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brandoncbarnett_strategy-leadership-businessgrowth-activity-7307777814139654144-opEy) Brandon Barnett examines strategy as a structured discipline grounded in analytical rigor, data-driven models, and systematic frameworks. We explore how companies and teams apply these principles to navigate industry evolution, optimize decision-making, and create strategic clarity.

However, science alone does not capture the full essence of strategy. Beyond the precision of structured analysis lies the equally vital human dimension - intuition, adaptability, and collaboration.

The Art of Strategy is about mastering this balance. While frameworks provide structure, it is a leader’s ability to listen, inspire, and adapt that brings great strategy to life. This article explores that art: how leaders can engage, create, and lead with presence. We focus on the key human elements of strategy: listening, collaboration, decision-making under uncertainty, and leading with conviction. These principles align closely with well-established leadership theories, strategic decision-making frameworks, and strategy execution models.

1. Mindset: Listening as the Foundation of Strategic Leadership

Great leaders cultivate curiosity, adaptability, and resilience, encouraging teams to question assumptions, challenge the status quo, and embrace ambiguity as a source of opportunity.

At the heart of this is listening. Effective strategic leaders do not impose decisions in isolation; they actively listen to employees, customers, partners, and competitors. Listening enables leaders to detect weak signals in the market, understand the emotions driving decisions, and refine strategies based on real-world feedback.

AI-powered analytics can significantly enhance this listening process, processing vast amounts of qualitative and quantitative data to uncover insights that human intuition might miss. Tools such as sentiment analysis, customer feedback mining, and competitive intelligence help leaders gain a more holistic view of the business landscape.

However, while AI can surface patterns and recommendations, the uniquely human ability to interpret, contextualize, and judge these inputs remains irreplaceable (at least for now). The best strategies blend AI-driven insights with human discernment, ensuring that technology serves as an enabler rather than a substitute for strategic thinking.

2. Systems: Strategy as an Adaptive Team Effort

No company operates in isolation. Strategy requires understanding external forces (market trends, competitors, technological shifts) and internal dynamics (culture, resources, capabilities).

While some strategies emerge from a single visionary leader, we have found that the best strategies often emerge from an adaptive team effort. Encouraging diverse perspectives, constructive debate, and cross-functional collaboration results in more resilient and effective strategies.

Even when a visionary exists, strategy is an interlinked effort that must be cascaded throughout the organization. Without alignment and engagement at all levels, even the most brilliant strategy will struggle to materialize.

Google’s OKR system exemplifies how objectives can be effectively aligned with overarching strategy, ensuring executional cohesion. However, while OKRs successfully waterfall goals through the organization, few companies apply the same structured approach to strategy itself.

Closing this gap by embedding structured alignment into strategy - not just objectives - can significantly improve strategic outcomes. A strong system fosters dynamic interactions, ensuring that strategy is not a rigid directive but an evolving process shaped by real-world inputs.

3. Position: Leadership Presence, Psychological Safety, and Strategic Awareness

Strategic positioning requires clarity on where your organization stands in the market - its strengths, vulnerabilities, and the unique space it can own.

But positioning is not only about external market dynamics. It also requires an understanding of the internal landscape - the team dynamics, interpersonal relationships, and the organizational culture that shape decision-making and execution.

At the heart of this view of positioning is leadership presence. The ability to inspire confidence, articulate a clear vision, and engage others in a shared purpose distinguishes great leaders.

Psychological safety is critical in this process. Teams perform best when they feel safe to voice concerns, challenge assumptions, and experiment without fear of retribution.

By fostering psychological safety, organizations unlock more open dialogue, better decision-making, and stronger alignment.

4. Choices: Balancing Head, Heart, and Network in Decision-Making

Strategy is fundamentally about making choices. Yet, many organizations hesitate to commit to a direction, fearing they might close off better opportunities.

Great strategists recognize the importance of balancing three dimensions of decision-making:

• Head (Analytical Reasoning): Using structured problem-solving and data-driven insights. Amazon’s A/B testing and customer analytics exemplify this approach.
• Heart (Intuition and Values): Trusting instinct and envisioning future scenarios beyond immediate data, like Steve Jobs' intuitive product decisions.
• Network (Collective Intelligence): Leveraging diverse perspectives, mentors, and peer networks to stress-test decisions - an approach commonly used in Agile methodologies.

This balance aligns with strategic frameworks like Bounded Rationality (Herbert Simon) and the Cynefin Framework, helping leaders navigate uncertainty and make more effective strategic trade-offs.

5. Action: Communicating for Coherent Execution Under Uncertainty

Strategy without action is merely wishful thinking.

Leaders must translate strategic insights into concrete initiatives while ensuring their teams understand not just what needs to be done, but why it matters.

And execution requires more than action - it requires communication. Strategy must be clearly articulated so that teams at all levels can align and move forward with confidence.

Without clear and compelling communication, even the best strategy can fail in implementation. Leaders must connect vision to action, inspire alignment, and reinforce strategy through consistent messaging.

The Balance Between Art and Science

Ultimately, great strategy is a blend of art and science. It requires leaders to balance vision with rigor, intuition with analytics, and inspiration with execution.

By using the Trigate Strategy Coaching Framework, organizations can approach strategy development with greater clarity, coherence, and impact - turning today’s uncertainty into tomorrow’s opportunity.