Are You Climbing the Wrong Mountain? Why Strategy Must Come Before Tactics Insight from Seth Godin

“It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going if you’re going in the wrong direction.” This powerful insight from Seth Godin cuts to the heart of a problem that plagues everyone from seven-year-olds to nonprofit leaders to billionaires: we are all indoctrinated to skip strategy. We race around with tactics—the clicking, the posting, the busywork—without first asking the most critical questions: Why are we doing this? Who are we trying to help?

In the age of AI, the temptation to jump straight to tactics is stronger than ever. At TRIAD, we believe that sustainable growth is built on a solid foundation of strategy. Before implementing a single AI-driven automation or launching a digital marketing campaign, we help you pause and answer the “why.” We serve as your strategic partner to ensure you’re not just moving fast, but moving in the right direction.

Inspired by a profound conversation with Seth Godin, let’s explore why strategy is the most important work you can do for your business.

What is Strategy? (And Why We Avoid It)

Most people come to experts with marketing or philosophical questions that are, at their core, strategy questions. Strategy isn’t about the daily tactics of chopping down a tree, like sharpening your axe. It’s about asking the bigger questions: “Why do we have an axe at all? Why this tree, and why today?” It’s about understanding the ecosystem you operate in and seeing how things will shift tomorrow.

We often skip this crucial step because it’s hard work. It’s easier to imitate what our peers are doing—posting on the same social media channels or buying the same camera—than it is to do the difficult work of carving out a unique path.

Working “On” the Business vs. “In” the Business

The distinction between strategy and tactics is best captured by the phrase: are you working

on the business or in the business?

• Working in the business is being the employee, executing tasks, writing the copy, and doing your craft.
• Working on the business is being the CEO, the consultant, and the board of directors. It’s figuring out the structures and making the big decisions.

As Godin notes, just

10 minutes of working on the business can be transformative. That’s when you make a decision that saves you an hour a day or puts you on an entirely new trajectory. We often lean into working

in the business, especially when times are tough, thinking more activity will solve the problem. But true leverage comes from strategy.

Choose Your Customers, Choose Your Future

One of the most powerful strategic decisions you can make is to choose who you serve. Godin uses the example of a wedding photographer. If you try to serve every bride, you’ll end up with indiscriminate customers who pay average rates.

However, if you develop a strategy to specialize in solving a specific problem for a specific type of client, you create a whole new category that you can own.

You don’t get better clients by doing a really good job for bad clients; you get better clients by creating the conditions for them to seek you out. This requires having the courage to say “no” to mediocre work, because if you’re not saying no, you don’t stand for anything.

Make Better Plans Today for a Better Tomorrow

How do you start thinking strategically? Try this thought experiment: write a letter to the you of five years ago, thanking that person for a key decision they made. Now, consider what the you of five years from now will thank you for today. Will it be for neatly sharpening your pencils, or for making a bold, strategic move?

Godin shares the story of firing his biggest client. They represented one-third of his company’s revenue, but they were turning his team into a group that was good at working with lousy clients. Firing them was a strategic decision that felt risky in the moment, but within 60 days, they had replaced all the lost business and more because the team felt relieved and re-energized. That is the power of making better plans.

Let’s Build Your Strategy Together

The core of strategy is asking the important questions we often forget: “Why am I doing this? Who am I here for? What change do I seek to make?” If you’re busy climbing, it can be hard to stop and ask if you’re on the right mountain.

At TRIAD, we provide that crucial perspective. We help you work on your business by developing a sound strategy for your digital marketing, website management, and AI implementation. We ensure your tactics are always aligned with a clear, powerful plan, so you can stop being traffic and start driving.

Ready to make better plans? Connect with us.

Disclaimer: This was inspired by the insights shared in a conversation with Seth Godin titled “Why Strategy Always Beats Talent” The original content and ideas belong to Neil Patel and his team. You can watch the full video here.

We do not claim ownership of the original content. This blog post is a derivative, educational commentary created for informational purposes only, in alignment with fair use guidelines. For complete and original insights, please refer directly to the original source.