Six Questions To Bring Insight Back To Strategy
Summary
Rebecca Homkes argues that many modern strategy processes have become superficial: quick offsites, sticker votes and templated outputs produce generic priorities that look the same across firms. To recover insight, she lays out six questions — to be answered in a specific sequence — that force teams to surface beliefs, test assumptions and shape clear, executable growth priorities.
The six questions are: 1) What is the situation and how will it change? 2) What is our Right to Win? 3) Where will we play (WhoWhatHow)? 4) What is success (finish line and boundaries)? 5) What will stop us (key obstacles)? and 6) So, what should we do (priorities)? Homkes emphasises starting with clear beliefs, diagnosing true competitive advantage, and finishing with a short list of fewer than six priorities. The payoff: slower upfront work for faster, better execution.
Key Points
- Begin strategy by assessing the situation and explicitly stating your beliefs about how it will change; beliefs should link trends to implications.
- Define your Right to Win — how you create and sustain competitive advantage via resources, capabilities or barriers to entry.
- Choose where to play using WhoWhatHow (ideal customers/markets, value proposition, go-to-market) aligned with your Right to Win.
- Set a clear finish line and non-negotiable boundaries so strategy has both direction and constraints.
- Identify what could stop you before setting priorities — some blockers should become priorities themselves.
- Define priorities last, pulling only the few initiatives that close gaps and leverage strengths; avoid incremental ‘do more’ lists.
- Limit top midterm priorities to fewer than six to drive meaningful value creation.
- “Slow down to speed up”: invest time up front to agree insights so you can act faster and more decisively in execution.
Why should I read this?
Look — if your strategy sessions feel like sticker parties that spit out the same bland bullet points as everyone else, this is for you. Homkes gives a tight, sequential playbook you can use to turn fuzzy debates into a few sharp bets that actually move the needle. Read it if you want fewer, clearer priorities and to stop wasting exec time on false consensus.
Context and Relevance
Organisations increasingly rush strategy to prioritise speed and engagement, but the result is often generic, non-differentiated plans. This piece matters because it reconnects strategy to distinctive insight — a key competitive requirement as markets shift rapidly and common priorities (profitability, AI, efficiency) proliferate. CEOs, strategy leads and exec teams will find the framework practical for translating uncertainty into testable beliefs, defensible market choices and executable priorities.
Author style
Punchy. Homkes writes with an experienced strategist’s clarity: practical, directive and focused on outcomes. If you’re leading growth through uncertainty, treat this as high-value, actionable advice.
Source
Source: https://chiefexecutive.net/six-questions-to-bring-insight-back-to-strategy/
