In order to succeed, it wouldn’t hurt to have a strategy. Recognizing your goal is one thing, and reaching that goal faster is another. So plan accordingly to win with these 158 strategy quotes.
Strategy Quotes
1. Strategy is a style of thinking, a conscious and deliberate process, an intensive implementation system, the science of ensuring future success. – Pete Johnson
2. Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. I am less chary of the latter than the former; space we can recover, time never. – Napoleon Bonaparte
3. The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do. – Michael Porter
4. Your strategy is the road map for bringing your goals to fruition… Ask yourself, ‘What are the steps I need to take to achieve this goal?’ Be careful not to overwhelm yourself by taking on too much at once. – Lauren Mackler
5. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things. – Miyamoto Musashi
6. What do you want to achieve or avoid? The answers to this question are objectives. How will you go about achieving your desire results? The answer to this you can call strategy. – William E. Rothschild
7. Strategy will compensate the talent. The talent will never compensate the strategy. – Marco Pierre White
8. You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is interested in you. – Leon Trotsky
9. Strategy is a system of expedients; it is more than a mere scholarly discipline. It is the translation of knowledge to practical life, the improvement of the original leading thought in accordance with continually changing situations. – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
10. In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell. – Jack Welch
11. A vision without a strategy remains an illusion. – Lee Bolman
12. Strategy without process is little more than a wish list. – Robert Filek
13. Strategy is a fancy word for coming up with a long-term plan and putting it into action. – Ellie Pidot
14. Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless. – Morris Chang
15. Strategy is a commodity, execution is an art. – Peter Drucker
16. You have to be fast on your feet and adaptive or else a strategy is useless. – Charles de Gaulle
17. Strategy is a pattern in a stream of decisions. – Henry Mintzberg
18. Strategy is thinking about a choice and choosing to stick with your thinking. – Jeroen De Flander
19. There is always a better strategy than the one you have; you just haven’t thought of it yet. – Sir Brian Pitman
20. Strategy is choosing to perform activities differently, or to perform distinctly different activities than rivals. – Debbie Millman
21. Strategy requires thought, tactics require observation. – Max Euwe
22. Strategy is important, but trust is the hidden variable. On paper you can have clarity around your objectives, but in a low-trust environment, your strategy won’t be executed. – Stephen Covey
23. A strategy is necessary because the future is unpredictable. – Robert Waterman
24. Strategy is about shaping the future. – Max McKeown
25. Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. – Sun Tzu
26. I believe that when people say something is impossible, it’s only impossible because a strategy has not been found yet. – Adam Khoo
27. Do you believe in what you do? Every day? It turns out that belief happens to be a brilliant strategy. – Seth Godin
28. To win by strategy is no less the role of a general than to win by arms. – Julius Caesar
29. There will be hunters and hunted, winners and losers. What counts in global competition is the right strategy and success. – Heinrich von Pierer
30. Always think, ‘what’s the worst that can happen’ and have some kind of strategy to deal with it. – Richard Branson
31. A strategy that doesn’t take into account resources is doomed to failure. – John C. Maxwell
32. Data is great, but strategy is better. – Steven Sinofsky
33. Life is about strategy not tragedy. Make the best one. – Tyga
34. What do you want to get done? In what order of importance? Over what period of time? What is the time available? What is the best strategy for application of time to projects for the most effective results? – Theodore Wilhelm Engstrom
35. People who consistently win have a clear and thoughtful strategy. They know what they need to do and when they need to do it. They write it down so they stay on course, and avoid any alternative that does not get them closer to the finish line. – Phil McGraw
36. Strategy is not focused on ROI, but on winning. – Paul Shannon
37. Strategy should evolve out of the mud of the marketplace, not in the antiseptic environment of an ivory tower. – Al Ries
38. One does not succeed by sticking to convention. When your opponent can easily anticipate every move you make, your strategy deteriorates and becomes commoditized. – Garry Kasparov
39. Your innermost urges will tell you what strategy to employ to accomplish your special purpose while doing the work you enjoy. – Carrie Fisher
40. Vision is a destination – a fixed point to which we focus all effort. Strategy is a route – an adaptable path to get us where we want to go. – Simon Sinek
41. Winning should be at the heart of every strategy. – A.G. Lafley & Roger L. Martin
42. Strategy is the economy of forces. – Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz
43. Strategy is something that emerges from reality, while tactics might be chosen. – George Friedman
44. Strategy is about stretching limited resources to fit ambitious aspirations. – C. K. Prahalad
45. Scale will get you strategy. – Nicholas Negroponte
46. Unless structure follows strategy, inefficiency results. – Alfred D. Chandler, Jr.
47. Etch your vision in stone-but sketch your strategy in pencil. – Steven Furtick
48. To me, strategy means trying to overcome your limitations and your weak points. To do that, I try to enhance and leverage my strong points. – Stan Shih
49. Strategy is something anyone can learn. But not all coaches take the time to understand a man’s personality. – Red Auerbach
50. Strategy is the articulation of the overall objectives along with general guidelines on achieving those objectives. – Leonard Saffir
51. We like to believe we can break strategy down to Five Forces or Seven Ss. But you can’t. Strategy is extraordinarily emotional and demanding. – Gary Hamel
52. If everyone thinks you’re doing the right thing, then everyone would be doing it. Have a controversial strategy. – Scott McNealy
53. If we learn to reflect on a paramount strategy and recognize the proper tactics, we may come to find out how we can rule the stormy waves of our lives since action and reflection have to unite in braving the tortuous windings and turnings of the paths ahead. – Erik Pevernagie
54. Organize, don’t agonize. – Nancy Pelosi
55. Battles are all about strategy, and strategy pivots on priorities. – Mark Lawrence
56. You can talk all you want about having a clear purpose and strategy for your life, but ultimately this means nothing if you are not investing the resources you have in a way that is consistent with your strategy. In the end, a strategy is nothing but good intentions unless it’s effectively implemented. – Clayton M. Christensen
57. We must rely upon strategy, discipline, and patience to derive our must yearned desires from this world. Because there are few things we want that others can provide us, and those who can usually don’t. – Daniel V Chappell
58. Strategy is the highest level of a plan. – Fritz Shoemaker
59. The motion does not produce results, an action does. – Sukant Ratnakar
60. Strategy was physics.
Every action had a reaction.
– Ada Harper
61. Do not underestimate your enemy’s strategy for victory. Observe patiently in silence with the application of experience, knowledge, good judgment and strategize your defense to triumph over your enemies. – Jesus Apolinaris
62. Synergy without strategy results to waste of energy. – Ogwo David Emenike
63. Strategy can turn a losing battle into a winning battle. – Rajen Jani
64. I learned not to pray about my strategies, but to make prayer the strategy. – Greg Pruett
65. Keeping it simple, you have a vision of what you are to become and a strategy for making that happen. – Pearl Zhu
66. There are strategies to score or to be ahead but there is one strategy to learn which is curiosity. – Ronald Tudu
67. Strategy is about heading North while keeping an eye on the South. – Dr. Asoka Jinadasa
68. A positive strategy should focus on innovation. – Sanjiv Anand
69. Every difficulty requires new strategy to overcome it. – Lailah Gifty Akita
70. Waiting is not wasting. It is a strategy for champing for greater things. – Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
71. Strategy is 5 percent thinking, 95 percent execution. And strategy execution is 5 percent technical, 95 percent people-related. – Professor Quy Huy
72. Dont give up. Obstacles can be overcome through strategy and learning. – Hidetaka Miyazaki
73. Strategy is, at some level, the ability to predict what’s going to happen, but it’s also about understanding the context in which it is being formulated. And then you have to be open-minded to the fact that you’re not going to get it right at the very beginning. – Martin Dempsey
74. Strategy is the starting point for a transformation that needs to occur and how that company must change to win. – Lynne Doughtie
75. It is necessary to develop a strategy that utilizes all the physical conditions and elements that are directly at hand. The best strategy relies upon an unlimited set of responses. – Morihei Ueshiba
76. Moving with the times is an important idea for strategy today. – Denise Morrison
77. You build your own strategy. You don’t define it by what another competitor is doing. – Ginni Rometty
78. I think, in anyone’s career, you have to map out some sort of strategy of steps that take you closer to the career you want. – Erin Foster
79. It’s very important that we all have a common understanding of our purpose as a business – what we aspire to – and a strategy for achieving it. – Dennis Muilenburg
80. You cannot change strategy due to a trend. – Marco Bizzarri
81. You have got to get the strategy right; you have to get the operations right – lined up from R&D out to the field. – Mark V. Hurd
82. You can gain a lot of time from an aggressive strategy, but you can lose a lot of time from an aggressive strategy. – Romain Grosjean
83. If you don’t have a viable strategy, you will be defeated by someone who does. – Alvin Toffler
84. Worrying about a problem is not a strategy for change. – Jody Williams
85. All companies have many opportunities. Strategy is about allocation of resources and priorities. – Michael J. Silverstein
86. Strategy is indeed about choosing what not to do as well as what to do. A business unit needs to decide what need it aims to satisfy in what group of people and with what value proposition that distinguishes the business from its competitors. – Philip Kotler
87. An effective strategy almost always involves both doing something and not doing something, and knowing when to choose the right alternative. To succeed, the strategy that is chosen ultimately depends on the acquisition of as much information as possible. – John E Ferling
88. A good strategy focuses efforts on a target, and that focus can only be achieved by not diffusing energy in other directions – that is the meaning of Michael Porter’s dictum of “choosing what not to do.” At the same time, a good strategy chooses the right target to focus on, not wasting the focus of energy on a target that cannot be affected or that is unimportant – that is the meaning of Drucker’s distinction between efficiency and effectiveness. – Richard P. Rumelt
89. Part of strategy is figuring out what you’re good at, figuring out what you’re not good at, and then getting yourself in position to succeed by doing mostly what you have a competitive advantage doing. – Jeffrey Pfeffer
90. I believe that if that vision or dream comes from God, He will also give you the strategy to bring it to pass. – JA Perez
91. You may create a inspirational & visually resplendent strategy map but without accountability its value is specious. – Paul R. Niven
92. Everything’s an act. Everything’s strategy. – Peter Watts
93. Be selective in your battles… – Brandi L. Bates
94. “Try more strategy and less force. Passion never wins any game, never mind what they say.” He said something similar now: “Excuses don’t win a game. You should try strategy.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
95. Your strategy for success must constantly move, change, and evolve. – Ziad K. Abdelnour
96. If you employed a strategy that is not conducive to the results you are looking for, then you will not achieve the desired result. You have to understand that it’s not you that failed; it’s just that you employed the wrong strategy. – Julian Pencilliah
97. Strategy is born when a calculated risk meets an educated guess. – Samer Chidiac
98. Every few years, you have to change your strategy. You have to look at how the world is mutating, and mutate. Not in the same way but in parallel. – Genesis P-Orridge
99. I don’t have any magical ability. I look at a problem, play with it, work out a strategy. – Terence Tao
100. How often are you really realigning yourselves on strategy? And does it need to be faster, based on how quickly your market actually changes? The answer is usually yes. – Chris Fussell
101. Are you on the eve of change? Embrace it. Accept it. Don’t resist it. Change is not only a part of life, change is a necessary part of God’s strategy. To use us to change the world, he alters our assignments. – Max Lucado
102. Strategy means making clear-cut choices about how to compete. – Jack Welch
103. Strategy doesn’t change when hard times arrive. Consumers’ willingness to try, and to stay loyal, remains, the goal. Winners know this; their brand focus and strategy remains consistent. – Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison
104. A winning strategy must include losing. – Robert Kiyosaki
105. Every failure is a lesson learned about your strategy. – Thomas A. Edison
106. Don’t sugar-coat results. Don’t make yourself look good when your strategy fails. Don’t make others look good if their strategy failed. – Theodor Billroth
107. Designing and implementing a strategy for change is a waste of time until you have discovered and embraced the current reality. If you don’t know where you really are, it is impossible to get where you need to be. – Andy Stanley
108. A bad strategy will fail no matter how good your information is. And lame execution will stymie a good strategy. If you do enough things poorly, you’ll go out of business. – Bill Gates
109. Regardless of our many differences, we all have the same needs. What differs is the strategy for fulfilling these needs. – Marshall B. Rosenberg
110. My basic strategy is to stick to my core business and to my area of expertise. – Henry Sy
111. However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. – Winston Churchill
112. The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks. – Mark Zuckerberg
113. You know the best thing about competition? There’s this whole strategy game, and when it all works out its like solving that hard math equation. You finally get the answer and you’re so happy. – Shaun White
114. And so if your competitors aren’t growing, if there isn’t a competitive reason to grow, and you want focus and discipline to add customers to existing stores, you adjust your strategy. – Jim Cantalupo
115. Success doesn’t necessarily come from breakthrough innovation but from flawless execution. A great strategy alone won’t win a game or a battle; the win comes from basic blocking and tackling. – Naveen Jain
116. The essential element of successful strategy is that it derives its success from the differences between competitors with a consequent difference in their behavior. – Bruce Henderson
117. Sustaining high business performance is a product of continuous strategic alignment. – Med Yones
118. If you can’t describe your strategy in twenty minutes, simply and in plain language, you haven’t got a plan. ‘But,’ people may say, ‘I’ve got a complex strategy. It can’t be reduced to a page.’ That’s nonsense. That’s not a complex strategy. It’s a complex thought about the strategy. – Larry Bossidy
119. If you don’t have a strategy, you’re part of someone else’s strategy. – Alvin Toffler
120. The best strategy is a balance between having a deliberate one, and a flexible, or emergent strategy. – Clayton Christensen
121. After a business implements a strategy, competitors will react, and the firm’s strategy will need to adapt to meet the new challenges. There is no stopping point and no final battle. The competitive cycle continues on perpetually. Produce and compete or perish. – Thomas Timings Holme
122. Mission defines strategy, and strategy defines structure. – Peter Drucker
123. The result of bad communication is a disconnection between strategy and execution. – Chuck Martin
124. Strategy isn’t something you can nail together in slapdash fashion by sitting around a conference table. – Terry Haller
125. Strategy is a ‘theory of victory’. – Eliot Cohen
126. Strategy requires a clear alignment of ends, ways and means, prioritisation, sequencing, and a theory of victory. – David H Ucko and Robert Egnell
127. Defining strategy as a theory of success encourages creative thinking….it forces strategists to clarify exactly how they plan to cause the desired end state to occur. – Jeffrey W Meiser
128. Grand strategy rests on a comparison of your own strengths and weaknesses with those of your rivals, and the exploitation of comparative advantage in competitions against them. – John Ferris and Evan Mawdsley
129. Strategy is, above all else, the search for above average returns. – Gary Hamel
130. Without a strategy, an organization is like a ship without a rudder, going around in circles. It’s like a tramp; it has no place to go. – Joel Ross and Michael Kami
131. The opportunities and threats existing in any situation always exceed the resources needed to exploit the opportunities or avoid the threat. Thus, strategy is essentially a problem of allocating resources. If strategy is to be successful, it must allocate superior resources against a decisive opportunity. – William Cohen
132. The formulation of strategy can develop competitive advantage only to the extent that the process can give meaning to workers in the trenches. – David Hurst
133. The greatest strategy is doomed if it’s implemented badly. – Bermard Reimann
134. Most of the time, strategists should not be formulating strategy at all; they should be getting on with implementing strategies that already have. – Henry Mintzberg
135. No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team. – Reid Hoffman
136. Without competitors there would be no need for strategy. – Kenichi Ohmae
137. Speed has become an important element of strategy. – Regis McKenna
138. A good way to outline a strategy is to ask yourself:
‘How and were am I going to commit my resources?’
The answer constitutes your strategy.
– R. Henry Miglione
139. Anything that you will prepare in advance will succeed, or else it will fail. – Confucius
140. One of the things that is most important for a company is to be very clear about their strategy, so investors get to self-select as to whether or not that’s the right strategy for them. – Jeff Bezos
141. The strategy you use should depend entirely upon strategy of the person you’re dealing with. – Tony Robbins
142. Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy. – George S. Patton
143. Tactics wins battles. Strategy wins wars. – Pierce Brown
144. The problem with most strategic planning processes is they are not designed to create strategy. They are designed to create consistency and predictability. – Kaihan Krippendorff
145. Every effective winning strategy is mapped out by focusing on the desired end goal. – Wayne Chirisa
146. A strategy is multi-dimensional planning, multi-team collaboration, and multitasking action. – Pearl Zhu
147. With a clever strategy, each action is self- reinforcing. Each action creates more options that are mutually beneficial. Each victory is not just for today but for tomorrow. – Max McKeown
148. With the level of uncertainty we see today, more people are asking, how can you develop a strategy in a world that keeps changing so fast? They are afraid that a set of rigid principles will hinder their ability to react quickly. I argue that it is precisely at such times that you need a strategy. – Orit Gadiesh
149. Let’s execute along this strategy, but know that we’ll probably get some of this wrong, so be open to changing it. – A.G. Lafley
150. Designing a winning strategy is the art of asking questions, experimenting and then constantly renewing the thinking process by questioning the answers. No matter how good today’s strategy is, you must always keep reinventing it. – Constantinos Markides
151. When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves. – Anthony J. D’Angelo
152. The best strategy is one that offers the highest compound return consistent with no risk of going broke. – William Poundstone
153. Obviously my best strategy is to wait, listen, and learn. – Jim Starlin
154. Business strategy is the battleplan for a better future. – Patrick Dixon
155. Your greatest and most powerful business survival strategy is going to be the speed at which you handle the speed of change. That speed of change is trend. – Ajaero Tony Martins
156. A strategy, even a great one, doesn’t implement itself. – Jeroen De Flander
157. Strategy equals execution. – Colin Powell
158. The first rule of any game was to assume you could win, even if you had to hunt through the universe’s cracks for a strategy, even if you had to turn the pieces inside-out, even if you had to tell so many lies to the opponent that they couldn’t figure out which way was up. – Yoon Ha Lee
