The 7 Fundamental Building Blocks of Strategy

Timeless principles for winning in business, life, and leadership

Strategy, at its core, is the disciplined art of choice—deciding what not to do as much as what to do. Whether you’re leading a company, launching a campaign, or navigating a career pivot, enduring strategies often share seven foundational principles. These aren't fads—they’re the quiet scaffolding behind decisive victories across history.

2. Know Yourself and the Competition

What it means:
Great strategy begins with honest self-awareness and sharp external awareness. You need to see your position, your competitors, and your context clearly to move effectively.

Example:
Netflix offered a subscription model with no late fees—addressing the key customer pain point in Blockbuster’s model. While Blockbuster stuck to its physical retail roots, Netflix leaned into online delivery and eventually streaming. That self-awareness and external insight turned Netflix from a scrappy upstart into the industry leader.

How to use it:

• Do a quick SWOT before major moves
• Seek blunt feedback on your blind spots
• Know where competitors can’t follow you—fast
• Build strategy around your relative edge—not just raw strengths

4. Strategic Timing and Patience

What it means:
Strategy isn’t just about doing the right thing—but doing it at the right time. Boldness must be tempered by timing. Great moves are often the ones delayed, not rushed.

Example:
Amazon didn’t chase short-term profits. It spent nearly a decade investing in infrastructure, growth, and customer obsession before turning consistent profits. That patience allowed it to time the rise of AWS and e-commerce dominance perfectly.

How to use it:

• Track trends and emerging signals—not just internal goals
• Practice “strategic delay”—waiting until conditions are right
• Design action triggers (e.g. market signals, thresholds)
• Ask: Is now the time—or am I just impatient?

6. Build on Strength (Compounding Advantage)

What it means:
Every win is a seed for the next. Strategy compounds when each success opens the door to another advantage—customers, capital, trust, data, tech.

Example:
Blue Ribbon Sports, the precursor to Nike, reinvested nearly all its early profits into product innovation and market expansion. Starting as a distributor of Japanese running shoes, the founders used sales revenue to develop their own designs—culminating in the iconic Nike brand and breakthrough products like the waffle sole. With each reinvestment, Nike built stronger athlete endorsements, better technology, and wider distribution. The momentum compounded, transforming Nike from a scrappy upstart into a global athletic powerhouse.

How to use it:

• Ask: What’s working? How can I multiply it?
• Turn one-time wins into systems (flywheels, networks, habits)
• Reinvest success into deepening your edge
• Build for momentum, not just milestones

Warning on Deception and Misdirection

From Sun Tzu’s battlefield misdirection to corporate PR smokescreens, deception has long been part of strategic playbooks. Misdirection works—when stakes are high, when trust is irrelevant, and when the game is zero-sum.

But we now operate in a world of infinite games—long-term relationships, reputational ecosystems, open information networks.

In this world, the cost of deception is no longer tactical—it’s existential.

Yes, discretion and ambiguity still matter. You don't have to show all your cards. But being caught manipulating truth can destroy trust faster than ever.

Strategic edge today comes from:

• Shaping perception ethically
• Reading signals others miss
• Staying credible and 3 steps ahead—without burning bridges

Bottom line:
In the long run, clarity and trust outperform clever misdirection. Be sharp, not shady.