Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building and GOLA GV.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellavoldo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode five ninety eight. Today we're talking about strategy,
Speaker 2: not the bloated kind, not the slide deck, not the
Speaker 2: off site retreat version that feels good in the moment
Speaker 2: and disappears by Monday morning. I'm talking about strategy in
Speaker 2: one sentence. If you can't explain your strategy in one
Speaker 2: clear sentence, you don't have a strategy. You have noise.
Speaker 2: Most organizations are not short on effort, they are short
Speaker 2: on clarity. People are working hard, saying late, answering emails,
Speaker 2: sitting in meetings, and still moving in different directions. That's
Speaker 2: not a motivation problem. That's a leadership problem. Here is
Speaker 2: the test. If I stopped one of your employees in
Speaker 2: the hallway, in the truck, in the breakroom, or on
Speaker 2: a zoom call and asked what is your organization trying
Speaker 2: to do right now? Would I get the same answer
Speaker 2: from everyone? If the answers are different, your strategy is broken.
Speaker 2: Strategy is not what leadership says in the boardroom. Strategy
Speaker 2: is what people repeat when leadership is not in the room.
Speaker 2: One sentence strategy forces discipline, It forces decisions. It forces
Speaker 2: leaders to choose what matters and what does not. It
Speaker 2: removes wiggle room and excuses. And I've seen organizations with
Speaker 2: binders full of strategic plans fail miserably. I've also seen
Speaker 2: small t with one clear sentence outperform everyone around them.
Speaker 2: Why Because clarity creates alignment, and alignment creates momentum. And
Speaker 2: here's where leaders get uncomfortable. One sentence strategy exposes indecision.
Speaker 2: It exposes fear of commitment. It exposes leaders who want
Speaker 2: to keep all options open so they do not upset anyone.
Speaker 2: Leadership is not about keeping everyone comfortable. Leadership is about
Speaker 2: moving people in the same direction on purpose. Let me
Speaker 2: give you an example. A weak's strategy sounds like this,
Speaker 2: we aim to be innovative, customer focused, and operationally excellent.
Speaker 2: That sentence says nothing. It gives people permission to interpret
Speaker 2: it however they want. It is corporate bs dressed up
Speaker 2: as leadership. A strong one sentence strategy sounds like this.
Speaker 2: Over the next twelve months, we're going to reduce customer
Speaker 2: wait times by fifty percent, even if it means saying
Speaker 2: no to new projects. Now people know what matters. Now,
Speaker 2: trade offs are clear. Now, decisions get easier. Good strategy
Speaker 2: is subtraction. It is choosing what not to do when
Speaker 2: everything is a priority. Nothing is. Another mistake leaders make
Speaker 2: is confusing values with strategy. Values guide, behavior, strategy guide's action.
Speaker 2: They work together, but they are not the same thing. Integrity, respect, accountability,
Speaker 2: Those are all values. They tell people how to act.
Speaker 2: Strategy tells people where to aim. Without strategy, values float
Speaker 2: without values, strategy rots. The one sentence strategy becomes the filter.
Speaker 2: When a new idea shows up, you do not debate
Speaker 2: it emotionally. You run it through the sentence. Does this
Speaker 2: help us accomplish what we said we are focused on
Speaker 2: right now? If yes, proceed, If no, then park it.
Speaker 2: That sentence protects your people from overload, It protects your
Speaker 2: leaders from distraction, It protects your organization from drifting. And
Speaker 2: this is where red key leadership shows up. Writing a
Speaker 2: one sentence strategy is a red key moment. It requires ownership,
Speaker 2: It requires saying no, It requires standing behind a decision
Speaker 2: long enough to see it through. Most leaders avoid this
Speaker 2: because it feels risky. What if the sentence is wrong?
Speaker 2: What if conditions change? And here's the reality. A clear
Speaker 2: direction that gets adjusted beats vague direction that never moves.
Speaker 2: You can correct course when you're moving. You cannot steer
Speaker 2: something that is sitting still. I want you to think
Speaker 2: about your team right now. Are they tired, frustrated, or
Speaker 2: burned out. There's a good chance it is not because
Speaker 2: they're lazy or unmotivated. It's because they're being pulled in
Speaker 2: too many directions without a clear aiming point. People want
Speaker 2: to win. They just need to know what winning looks like.
Speaker 2: Your one sentence strategy defines the win. Here's a simple exercise.
Speaker 2: Take a blank piece of paper, write one sentence that
Speaker 2: answers this question. Over the next six to twelve months,
Speaker 2: what are we intentionally focused on achieving even if it
Speaker 2: means deprioritizing other good things. If you need five sentences,
Speaker 2: you're not done. If you need qualifiers and footnotes, you
Speaker 2: are not done. Simple does not mean easy. Simple means clear.
Speaker 2: Once you have it, share it, repeat it, put it
Speaker 2: on walls, put it in meetings, put it in onboarding.
Speaker 2: Say it until people can finish the sentence without you.
Speaker 2: That is when strategy stops being a document and starts
Speaker 2: being a direction. So leadership is not about saying more.
Speaker 2: It is about making fewer things unmistakably clear. One sentence
Speaker 2: can align a team, protect their time, and restore lost momentum.
Speaker 2: If you want less chaos and more progress, stop adding
Speaker 2: and start choosing. Write the sentence, own it, and lead
Speaker 2: with it. This has been the seven minute Leadership Podcast
Speaker 2: and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more, Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com