Goals for Strategy

Sometimes we mistake goals for strategy. Three ideas from Richard Rumelt1 about this:

  • “If you fail to identify and analyze the obstacles, you don’t have a strategy. Instead, you have either a stretch goal, a budget, or a list of things you wish would happen.”

  • “Use the word goals to express overall values and desires, and use the word objective to denote specific operational targets. It is strategy that transforms goals into a coherent set of actionable objectives.”

  • “Good strategy works by focusing energy and resources on one, or a very few, pivotal objectives whose accomplishment will lead to a cascade of favorable outcomes.”


  1. cfr Rumelt, Richard. Good Strategy, Bad Strategy↩︎

strategy goals Richard Rumelt

Join my free newsletter and receive updates directly to your inbox.