TOBY: your guide to writing a strategy statement

Do not worry it is not Toby Flenderson, even though he is one of the sanest voices in "The Office"

How does one write a strategy statement?

Writing a strategy statement can be quite complex apparently and there are many different ways to go about it. We wanted to come up with an easy to remember framework that can be used by anyone to write down their strategy statement and this led to TOBY.

Now you might already have a strategy and want to express it in a statement or you do not have a strategy yet and want to start thinking about it, well we think this really simple approach can help you in both scenarios. So let us get into it!

TOBY

The TOBY approach is made up of two of the simplest words in the English dictionary “TO” and “BY”.

But man this is too basic and simple! Well that is how a strategy statement should be so that it can be communicated easily and widely.

So what are these TO and BY?

The TO

The To refers to the challenge that you are trying to solve. It could be a key opportunity you want to go after or a key barrier to remove.

In the classic sense of strategy it would be a key customer segment and the problem that we are trying to solve for that segment. These could also be plural or multiple.

So in the words of strategy, “TO” is the “WHAT”. What are you trying to do!

Let us see some examples of just the “TO”

• To meet the food and beverage needs of customers driving on highways.

• To serve the customers looking to buy second hand clothes in Europe.

• To decrease the incidence of HIV infection in India.

Let us also give a personal example from Strategy Shots.

• To serve the readers on Substack interested in business and strategy topics

Now as you can see from the above, the “To” helps to narrow down what you want to do. It helps to also eliminate what you do not want to do.

For example in Statement 1 you do not want to meet any other needs apart from food and beverage for your customers. Also you do not want to meet the food and beverage needs of customers who are not driving on highways.

For Strategy Shots, we do not want to serve the readers who are not on Substack or who are not interested in business and strategy topics.

So the “To” not only helps clarify what you want to do but also what you do not want to do. With me still? Cool!

Nuance: The To is always followed by another verb of choice depending on what you are trying to achieve. This verb is in infinitive form (serve, decrease, meet) as it shows purpose.

Now that we have the “To” or the “What”, we still do not have the strategy statement. We only have a part of it. So let us move to “By.”

The BY

The “By” focuses on “How” you are going to solve the problem. This is a key element of the strategy as it helps determine the 2nd aspect of choice and how you will create value.

Let us expand the above statements to include the By

• To serve the food and beverage needs of customers driving on highways by installing cost effective vending machines at fuel stations.

• To serve the customers looking to buy second hand clothes in Europe by creating a peer to peer e-commerce website with additional quality assurance mechanisms

• To decrease the incidence of HIV infection in India by making condoms freely accessible at primary healthcare centres and college campuses.

Now the “By” above does a few more things. It further tells us exactly what we are going to do and not do to solve the problem or serve that customer segment.

For example based on statement 1, we will serve the customer who need food or beverage on the highway only via vending machines but not via stores or drive throughs. We only want cost effective items and not very expensive stuff in our vending machines.

Similarly based on statement 2, we will serve customers looking to buy second hand clothes via an online platform which is peer to peer exchange and not led by brands. Also we will have additional quality assurance mechanisms (such as guarantee for return or buyer protection) to differentiate ourselves from other platforms.

Let us also expand the statement for Strategy Shots

• To serve the readers on Substack interested in business and strategy topics by sharing simple frameworks for strategy deployment and daily short bytes on key strategy concepts.

At Strategy Shots we want to serve our readers by sharing simple frameworks and concepts for strategy deployment. We do not want to share more detailed and complex views and therefore some readers might fight it too high level but we do not aim to serve everyone :)

Nuance: The By is always followed by another verb of choice depending on how you are trying to take action. This verb is in “ing” form (creating, installing, sharing) and signifies action.

Limitations of TOBY

• TOBY does not include a Goal or Objective. You could have a separate Goal statement.

  • E.g. We want to be the number 2 player in second hand online platforms in Europe.

• TOBY does not clarify if the capabilities to achieve the strategy are missing or need to be built.

  • This could be captured in further details but the idea is to keep the strategy statement structure simple.

• TOBY does not include any KPIs or targets. Again these could be captured separately.

• The idea of TOBY is to provide everyone with a simple approach to write a Strategy statement. This is not a way to create strategy but more a way to recap your statement or if you do not yet have a strategy then to inspire you on how you should think about it.

• If it is too abrupt to begin with To, feel free to add We want or We aim or We wish as you see fit to show that it is a state you want to go towards.

Recap of TOBY

TOBY consists of two components. The To and the By.

The To refers to the problem you are trying to solve or the customer segment and need you are trying to serve. The “what” basically.

The By refers to what you will do to solve that problem. The set of activities or the manner of activities. The “how” basically.

Example: To meet the food and beverage needs of customers driving on highways by installing cost effective vending machines at fuel stations.

Note: TOBY is just a way to express your strategy, the strength of your strategy is a different element altogether!

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So that was it for this week. Hope you enjoy reading this. Do let us know your thoughts and criticisms. Have a good weekend :). See you next week