When should strategy be used?

Let's first be clear as to when strategy is not needed.

You don't need a strategy if you are not going anywhere.

If you think tomorrow will look exactly the same as today - then just carry on as you always did.

If you run a business that is a monopoly, with no chance of any kind of competition from anywhere in the future - then don't bother with strategy.

If you are not actively building a brand, or innovating new products and services, or planning to create anything else of value for the future - then strategy is not needed by you.

Not too long ago I met the CEO of a local radio station who proudly told me that the station 'had never had a strategy'.

He also wasn't very enthusiastic about changing that.

It's also why that particular radio station is such a wasted opportunity.

It could offer so much more, but the people involved are not passionate about building for the future - they're happy with just carrying on with what they have always done before.

With this entrenched mindset - strategy work for them would be a total waste. It's not actually what they want. They want the status quo. They want comfort. And in my experience - the desire for comfort is usually far stronger for those that have grown accustomed to it, than the desire for growth.

They are also at some point in time in the future - destined to collapse. Without renewal they are headed for death.

As Andy Dufresne said in the classic movie The Shawshank Redemption: "It all comes down to a very simple choice; get busy living, or get busy dying."

So, when should strategy be used?

Strategy is a key tool for those that want to create, build, grow and develop.

It's for those with an open-mind, those that are optimistic about the future, those with the energy to make something new.

If you are excited about what could be, then strategy is for you.