"We've got a strategic plan." "We have four strategic priorities." "We're doing a strategic consultation process with our stakeholders." 

My problem with all this strategy-babble is that it's usually NOT strategic at all! 

Now when it comes to strategy, I'm a very lucky guy. My first career was in politics. I was a campaign director- and learned my craft from some absolutely brilliant strategic mentors. Here's some of what I learned - and apply now in my philanthropic consulting work. 

Short and snappy 

First and foremost, a strategy is a single idea that can be expressed in one sentence. Your strategy simply defines your win and offers the reason that you'll achieve it. That's it. Nothing more. 

Let me give you an example. 

I'm a man. I used to play football. It was my favourite sport and I'm still passionate about it. The  National Football League runs the most popular sport in North America. Its audience is 80% male. In many households across North America, men spend Sunday afternoons in the basement, beer in hand, scratching themselves, belching and letting out the occasional "Whoop!" when their team scores a touchdown. 

This October, the NFL on television looked kind of funny. You saw pink everywhere. Referees in pink caps. Players wearing pink wristbands, gloves and shoes. Pink first-down markers. Pink logos at centre field. Why in the male refuge of NFL football do we see these 300-pound hulks in pink? 

Turning men pink 

All that pink is there because the American Cancer Society came up with a really smart strategy.

Breast cancer is typically thought of as a women's disease - just as prostate cancer is typically thought of as a men's disease. The folks at ACS came up with a simple strategy, which I see like this: 

ACS will diversify its donor base by attracting more men to give. 

There it is. There's a strategy - and a smart one at that. 

Doing strategy 

Now we move to the tactical side. Tactics are the things you do to bring your strategy to life. Strategy comes first, and tactics follow. Tactics are how you achieve your strategy. 

Strategy is simple. But it's often far from easy. Perhaps that's why so many of us shy away from what it really takes to create a good one. 

Great examples 

Here are a few more examples of (what I think are) brilliant strategies that worked big time.

This month's tip 

Strategy isn't rocket science. But good strategy does require a level of focus and discipline that I'm afraid most of us just don't have in our sector right now. So go ahead - shake things up. Become a strategic champion in your organization. And let me know how it goes!