It probably wasn’t until I spent time in Malindi, Kenya, that I got a visceral sense of what it meant to be in the minority. My skin was far lighter, my hair was different and my clothes seemed out of place. I was a “mzungu” (white person). The people were quite kind yet I knew that most of the social adaptations would have to come from me. For a relatively brief time I felt what minorities must feel all the time when they live permanently with people different from themselves.

What does skin color and social background have to do with strategic or tactical thinking?

Only the recognition that the world is dominated by tactical thinking and a strategist will always be in the minority. “Minority thinking” means that most of the time the strategists must adapt to the tacticians rather than the inverse. It does not mean however that strategists are less valuable or needed. And it does not mean that strategy is unimportant. But a strategist that only masters strategic thinking without understanding how to act tactically will most likely fail (or at best succeed sporadically).

The critical implication is that a strategist has a particular requirement to speak two languages. First, there is the native language of strategy. Second, there is the foreign language of the majority that is primarily tactical.

Say something strategic to most tactical people and it would be like a Kenyan saying something in Swahili to me. Aside from “hakuna matata” (no worries) and a few other phrases, I would be lost. Similarly, when strategy encounters a tactical mindset, the strategist faces the likely outcome that they will be misunderstood unless they follow some simple rules.

Here are 5 powerful rules that can help guide a strategist’s behavior and translate their message.

1. Don’t start by calling “it” strategy. Whatever your thoughts are, whatever beautiful concepts you have developed and whatever your vision may be, just don’t call it strategy. At least at the beginning, just say you are “working out a plan” or “working through an example.” Why say it this way? Because “plan” and “example” sound and feel more definite. They are concrete steps or evidence and most people will latch on to this. Hooking them by helping them understand how to be involved is much more important than the label.
2. Don’t expect appreciation. A good strategy is a beautiful thing. It considers so many factors, distills lessons and makes meaningful bets about the future. You and I can admire when this is done well. Just don’t be surprised when the tactical majority doesn’t value the elegant thinking so much. Most people focus on tasks and it is a good thing that they do. If all the “real” work had to be done by strategic thinkers, most companies would fold due to inadequate output. The best “appreciation” that you can receive from most people is their implicit endorsement of your work and increasing understanding of how it applies to them.
3. Do determine the “choke” point. If someone puts too much food in their mouth, they start to choke. Likewise, if a strategist talks about too many concepts or projects too far into the future, tactical people begin to choke. Different people have different thresholds. Our task is to be careful to know and respect those thresholds. For instance, some people can only imagine what will happen over the next six months. If someone attempts to force them to think about a 2-3 year horizon, they figuratively begin to choke. Don’t go too far too soon or you will lose your tactical friends.
4. Do practice a fait accompli methods. One method of rolling out strategy is to form a high level team, make a grand announcement and launch a comprehensive communications campaign. This happens all of the time and usually results in failure because it doesn’t take into account the essential tactical mindset of organizations. More than that, most people have seen such campaigns come and go. Wisely, they wait for the latest one to pass while maneuvering to avoid serious impact to their work. On the other hand, people do respect results, genuine change and courageous leadership. Thus, a strategist is best served not by announcements but by sustained modeling (both personal and organizational). Then, as the good results become increasingly known, tactical people are motivated to become part of the strategy.
5. Do understand the difficulty of change. Some strategies call for “more of the same.” Most, however, require change and that affects many people. Change causes all sorts of conscious and unconscious reactions. Many of the negative reactions arise because change feels “unsafe.” Unsurprising, unsafe people are not enthusiastic about change. The sooner that a strategic thinker grasps this and masters the safety issues, the sooner that their effectiveness will increase. Understanding safety issues will give you much greater sensitivity to the implementation challenges of strategy. And, it will lower the temperature in your discussions with tactical people. They might actually come to believe that you value them as much as the grand strategy ideas that you have worked so diligently to formulate.

Sometimes it seems that tactical people are averse to understanding strategic people. I suppose that it could easily be said that strategic people feel misunderstood and underappreciated by the tactical world. My view (as someone that purports to think strategically) is that the obligation to bridge the gap belongs primarily to the strategists. Fortunately, this can be done by thinking strategically but acting tactically.

Do you agree? Are there other lessons that you have learned like these?