Be a Strategist, not a Tactician: Important Lessons from Robert Greene and Bill Belichick
War has long been a fascinating subject that helps us better understand decision-making and human nature. The life and death struggle of the battlefield is a microcosm of the daily battles we all fight in our personal and professional lives. Like life, war is intensely complex and there are real lessons in the brilliance of great generals like Hannibal or Rommel. These lessons are not only important for military leaders to study but have application in our daily lives.
One such lesson, brilliantly outlined in the Robert Greene book 33 Strategies of War is the idea of strategy over tactics. To understand the difference and how improved strategy can make us better partners, parents and knowledge workers you have to understand the difference between tactic and strategy. Tactics are the actual means used to gain an objective, while strategy is the overall campaign plan, which may involve complex operational patterns, activity, and decision-making that govern tactical execution. In short, the former is just one part of the latter.
As we go through our daily lives the vast majority of us are tacticians, not strategists, caught up in the battle we are currently facing, not the bigger and broader battle of life. As a result we are not thinking big picture or multiple moves in the future and how our current tactics fit into the long term objectives we are trying to accomplish. Whether it’s the relationship with your partner, the raising of our kids or what we’re trying to achieve at work, we cannot lose sight of the bigger battle because we’re caught up in the daily skirmishes. This is why the study of war is so fascinating as a tool to understand human nature. Like life, war, at it's essence is the culmination of hundreds of decisions, both big and small, with an outsized amount of stress added in. For any army to be successful on the battlefield effective strategy is required, combined with the confidence that the personnel who are executing the strategy have bought into it.
Here are some additional thoughts:
When it comes to strategy always think big picture: We all have that friend or co-worker who is constantly caught up in daily skirmishes, allowing emotion and perceived slights to drive their behavior. These reactive personalities are more driven by always proving themselves right in the moment instead of thinking of the long term impact of their behavior. While you need sound tactics to go about your day and progress toward your goals, you cannot lose sight of the overall strategy. Relationships are no different. If the long-term strategy with your partner is to elevate your relationship to one of true love, passion and respect, you have to not only think big picture but also assess whether your current tactics are effective. My wife and I are two very strong personalities. In the past we would hash out every single conflict and cause much more harm than good, damaging our relationship. Our tactics were terrible, negating our long-term strategy of achieving our vision of what we wanted our relationship to be.
Tactics and Strategy are absolutely intertwined: Like war, football helps us better understand the need for both sound tactics and strategy and how they are linked. One example is Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. The connection to war is fitting since Belichick, considered by many to be the greatest football coach of all time, learned the game of football at an early age from his father who was an assistant coach at the US Naval Academy. What separates the Patriots from the vast majority of NFL football teams is how they not only have a big picture strategy, but they are able to modify their tactics week to week to constantly have an edge over their opponents. It’s the perfect mix of tactics and strategy. On the strategic side they have a clear model of how they’ve built, organized and run their franchise. This covers the full gamut from personnel decisions to the culture they’ve created. Where the Patriots often get the edge is how they adjust their tactics week to week. The Patriots often have the element of surprise when it comes to offensive groupings and strategy that give them the advantage. This extends to how they adjust to their opponent during the actual game. These tactics are only effective because they reflect a broader culture and strategy that the team has developed. Offensively the Patriots effectively have two offensive stars, quarterback Tom Brady and Tight End Rob Gronkowski. The rest of the personnel on offense is a diverse group of running backs and receivers that are largely interchangeable. This allows the Patriots to widely vary their tactics week to week based on the opposition, with players often playing big roles one Sunday and hardly being part of the game plan a week later.
You need buy in: The Patriots system works because the players have bought into it. Running a family unit or managing employees is no different. In the long run you aren’t going to be effective if the parties involved aren’t on board with the big picture strategy. For most of my professional career I’ve both managed and been a part of sales teams in the software industry. Every company has a “go to market strategy” that leadership is working to execute. It inevitably always fails if the sales people, who are directly interfacing with customers, haven’t bought into the big picture strategy and are thus using tactics that are contrary to organizational objectives.
Your tactics need to vary based on the situation: Miyamoto Mushashi, author of The Book of Five Rings is universally regarded as the greatest ever Japanese Samurai. Mushashi dueled more than sixty times between the ages of 15 and 29, never losing. Mushashi himself noted that he wasn’t victorious solely due to his martial arts skill. Known for using two swords in battle, a novel approach at the time, Mushashi was effective because he varied his approach to each battle, in essence modifying his tactics based on the opponent. The takeaway is that every situation is different, every opponent is different, every business opportunity is different. Use your broader life strategy or business strategy as a guide, but based on the current task at hand you have to be able to modify your tactics. It’s all about the time and preparation you put in to approach the key aspects of your life. We’ve all been in situations where we are in over our heads because we didn’t prepare properly. Part of preparation is being ready to handle all situations and the inevitable curveballs that life throws you. If you are prepared and have a sound strategy backing you, you’ll be ready to modify your tactics when that curveball is tossed your way.
A good life strategy requires you to study life: We all only have a certain amount of time that we can devote to developing a sound strategy to tackle the various aspects of our life. We all want to be successful at work, have balance in our private lives and achieve a higher level of love and passion with our partners. In order to do this we really need to work at it. Stop reading books and aimlessly watching content that diverts you. The ultimate study is the study of life. Consume information that makes you better at life, a fitter and more engaged person and a better partner and parent. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have television programs and books in your life that provide escapism—balance is important as is being an interesting person. Just don’t spend all of your free time with aimless pursuits. The point that Stephen Covey made that has resonated most with me over the years is the idea that you constantly have to “sharpen the saw”. To be good at life you need to study life. Read good books and listen to good podcasts that make you a better person and partner. Really work at it.
The attentive man has a strategy for all aspects of his life. Really work to understand what you are trying to accomplish and make sure your daily activities are based on executing and staying true to who you want to be and where you want to go. Marginal improvement, if achieved daily, leads to great things, but poor tactics can constantly set you back.