Is Strategy more Art or Science

Strategy is like a 'Kite on a String'! 

Strategy is about projecting and balancing variables on the business continuum to achieve that goal further away in the distance. So is strategy more art or science?

Strategy is indeed an art as it is a science - as such, the color that gut feelings bring helps you define what the destination can look like. On the other hand, the strategic process helps validate such gut feeling, set guidelines and take action scientifically.

It takes both intuition and analytics in crafting a good strategy. Strategy brings a sense of intentionality, accountability and validity to gut feelings. Through relevant analysis (financial, competitive, product, market, operation, HR), you can properly set-up the right processes to support the strategy and create clear milestone for assessment of goal achievements.

There are three ‘Cs’ in strategy: Context, Creativity, and Cascade. Strategy represents a continuum of business ideas - weaved together based on a common mission (destination - vision) - Growing and sustaining any business requires a manager to keep the long term view in sight (the destination of the journey). The journey to the destination is characterized by many small trips and crucial milestones. These trips could represent your various levels of goals - short-term, near-term - mid-term goals.

Strategy is the art of executive decision making and science of step-by-step actions; strategy is the pillar of organizational existence, its design, structure, functions, vision, and mission. You need to mitigate all possibilities of failure - gut feelings have to be clearly defined. Strategic steps and their KPIs are the indicators of assurances that you are heading to where you want to go (destination).

The best strategists are the artistic scientist or scientific artist. They are capable of thinking through these modes both deductively and inductively, creatively and critically, intuitively and systematically. They are constantly challenging what they know, and they are always seeking new knowledge, and regularly test their firmly held beliefs.

Strategy is the art because the purpose of the strategy is to bridge into the future, and dream bigger; strategy is the science, because the action is an integral part of the strategy, and only scientific planning and systematic actions can make the dream come true.