Most people are tacticians, not strategists.
They respond quickly. They optimise relentlessly. They deliver.
In doing so, they often confuse movement with momentum, and activity with advantage.
In the modern workplace — particularly in advertising, marketing, and digital delivery, tactical brilliance is easy to spot. The most effective tacticians are competent, constantly engaged, and swift to respond. Strategy, however, requires a different orientation. It is deliberate, quiet, and counterintuitive. It demands patience in place of pace.
This is why most professionals, including those in senior roles, do not evolve into strategists. The barrier is not intelligence. It is perspective.
Strategy Is a Muscle Most People Never Train
Strategy is the disciplined allocation of finite resources in pursuit of asymmetric advantage. It concerns pressure points, not checklists. It is a practice of intentional neglect in favour of high-return focus.
Robert Greene, in The 33 Strategies of War, observes Napoleon not as a mere tactician, but as a strategist who manipulated timing, perception, and terrain. His success came through influence over the context in which decisions were made. He misdirected. He delayed. He shaped the environment long before any shot was fired.
Compare this to how most professionals operate. They plan in delivery cycles, not horizons. They optimise outputs, but seldom question intent. Their victories are frequent but shallow.
A 2023 McKinsey Global Survey on strategy capabilities found that while 83 percent of senior executives believe strategy is critical to company success, only 20 percent felt their organisations excelled at it. The gap is not aspiration, but behaviour.
Three Shifts That Define Strategic Thinking
- Expand the Time Lens
Tactical minds focus on what must happen next. Strategic minds invest time to anticipate what should happen later. They think in systems, not sequences. - Reframe the Question
Rather than asking what can be delivered, strategists consider what should be influenced. They are selective in action and precise in pressure. - Redefine Progress
Tactical success often shows up in meetings. Strategic success shows up in results. The strategist is willing to defer visibility in service of traction.
The View From the Hill, Not the Trench
Strategists operate with elevation. They scan the environment while others dissect the detail. When colleagues are immersed in visual tweaks or deck formatting, the strategist assesses distribution risks or reputational exposure six months ahead.
This is not detachment. It is composure.
I once worked with a client lead who retained composure under pressure. During a multi-stakeholder meeting, she noticed that the true issue was relational misalignment, not creative missteps. Instead of following the tactical noise, she arranged a private conversation with the CMO to clarify priorities. That one decision reshaped the engagement.
She didn’t resolve the brief. She resolved the dynamic.
Strategy Is Pattern Recognition
Tacticians resolve tasks. Strategists observe tension. While the former seek answers, the latter frame better questions.
Strategic thinking is rarely reactive. It requires an awareness of how systems behave under stress. It identifies where silence matters, and when repetition signals decay.
Leadership at this level is a practice in delay. It calls for the ability to endure ambiguity without surrendering control.
Becoming a Strategist Is a Choice
Strategy is not a title. It is a commitment to restraint, precision, and sustained attention.
It starts by tuning out performance theatre. It means resisting urgency when urgency is performative. It involves letting go of ownership in the room, and instead owning the conditions in which rooms are shaped.
In a workplace culture that often rewards speed, volume, and visibility, the strategist is playing a longer game, one defined by influence, clarity, and timing.
And when the conditions are finally right, they do not just act.
They move the board.
Steve Sharpe is a Senior Client Lead in digital and creative advertising. More at stevesharpe.me
