Everyone wants a “strategy.” Everyone wants their stuff to be “strategic.” Strategic plan. Strategic facilities expansion. Strategic HR sourcing. Strategic restroom cleaning schedule. The word “strategy” is being abused so badly it needs counseling.

Wikipedia says, “A strategy is a long-term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often ‘winning.’” Everyone wants to win. And sometimes winning means increasing financial performance by 10 percent. The problem is many organizations use the end metric to define their strategy. To be clear: Financial or numerical results follow from strategy. They don’t drive it. Strategy and the defined tactics and initiatives for executing it result in financial performance (hence the more oft-used term “financial results”).

 …