Chapter 1 — Strategic Goals
Strategy versus planning
The chapter opens by drawing a hard line between strategy (a general plan) and tactics (its specific actions). Felix is blunt that he has misused the word strategy repeatedly through a long career running a strategy consultancy.
"This book is, in fact, not about strategy but how to implement strategy."
The Strategy Map starts with the strategic goals and works backwards to define the prerequisites and necessary tactics to deliver them. The 2Y3X Roadmap turns those tactics into ordered quarterly work.
Time the goal to the market cycle
The chapter notes that the UK business cycle averages 62 months from peak to peak (with a standard error of 28 months), and the US cycle averages 69 months. If you intend to sell on a three-year earn-out you should pick the three-year goal so the earn-out finishes around the next cycle peak.
It also flags the strategic considerations every founder should be holding in view: shelf-life of the underlying craft (photo retouching, petrol-engine tuning are two examples Felix uses for things being replaced by AI and EVs respectively), climate change, demographic and behavioural shifts, supply of raw materials and talent, and politics.
The SWOT
A four-to-five-item-per-quadrant SWOT (Strengths / Weaknesses / Opportunities / Threats) focuses the team on what is genuinely important and surfaces existential risks. The worked example: if 40% of revenue comes from one client and they walk, the response is structural — reduce single-client exposure by upscaling other clients, winning bigger ones, or scaling salaries down fast. Lower-priority opportunities (Felix's example: an unexplored opportunity in Switzerland) get parked.
The unifying goal
The Strategy Map starts with a single unifying goal for Year 3 — the destination the company is heading towards. Felix's preference is to pick a target that is bigger than the team thinks is possible: people consistently underestimate what they can achieve over three years, and an ambitious unifying goal forces structurally better choices in every other segment.
The five segments of the Strategy Map
The Strategy Map is a radial diagram with five segments:
- People
- Customers
- Sales and Marketing
- Process
- Financials (a.k.a. Financial and Corporate)
Each segment is divided into Year 3, Year 2 and Year 1 rings. Year 3 holds the destination state; Year 2 holds what must be true a year out from that; Year 1 holds the items that become quarterly tasks for the 2Y3X Roadmap.
Worked example
Felix uses the worked example of being recognised as one of the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For as a People-segment goal that connects to Sales & Marketing (better staff = happier clients = more revenue) — see Chapter 3.