Grand strategy conveys the vision or intent of the business owner. It requires periodic research and challenge to keep aims relevant and grounded in available capabilities and resources.
Done well — with substance over style — a grand strategy works as a powerful call to other investors, and the talent needed to go on this journey and realise those aims.
Grand strategy sits above the business — providing a clear direction.
The PUN Template (Purpose | Users | Needs)
Once articulated, the owner and business leader need to align around the grand strategy. This can be done by answering three, deceptively simple, questions from the PUN template (see attached image):
Once agreed, the leader can start crafting a business strategy to deliver on the grand strategy. This requires breaking down the grand strategy into intermediate aims to achieve and immediate problems to solve.
For example:
Grand Strategy: Develop AI that augments, not replaces, human judgment
Aim(s): Make AI a trusted partner in high-stakes human decisions
Problem(s): Opaque AI reasoning | Misaligned incentives in automated decisions
Aims and problems become specific missions the business will work to achieve or resolve. They have to be consequential — capable of moving the business toward its grand strategy — but also achievable.
The second step is to identify which users will benefit most from these missions being delivered: customers, employees, suppliers, wider society, or any users important to the business’s success.
The final step is to take these users’ perspectives and identify what they really want — that’s within our scope of activities to satisfy (see question 2 above) — making reasonable assumptions were our data is incomplete.
Now we can complete a PUN template for each mission:
The business leader can now prioritise missions to set a clear direction of travel — and task the talent to work out how to get there. Missions can also be communicated back to owners, so everyone is on the same page.
With clear alignment between owner, leader, and talent, the business is poised to move further and faster as everyone is now heading in the same direction.
Quick test
List the top 3 missions you’re working on.
For each mission ask: If this were solved, would it materially advance the grand strategy?
If not, your missions may be mis-specified or mis-prioritised — with resources being spent in a direction the owners didn’t intend and won’t value even if you get there.
What next?
We’ll turn to the art of crafting business strategy. This starts with situational awareness — the most important skill businesses need in a fast-changing, uncertain world.
Done well — with substance over style — a grand strategy works as a powerful call to other investors, and the talent needed to go on this journey and realise those aims.
Grand strategy sits above the business — providing a clear direction.
The PUN Template (Purpose | Users | Needs)
Once articulated, the owner and business leader need to align around the grand strategy. This can be done by answering three, deceptively simple, questions from the PUN template (see attached image):
- Who are we? (The business)
- What do we do? (Activities we perform that create value)
- Why do we do this? (The grand strategy).
Once agreed, the leader can start crafting a business strategy to deliver on the grand strategy. This requires breaking down the grand strategy into intermediate aims to achieve and immediate problems to solve.
For example:
Grand Strategy: Develop AI that augments, not replaces, human judgment
Aim(s): Make AI a trusted partner in high-stakes human decisions
Problem(s): Opaque AI reasoning | Misaligned incentives in automated decisions
Aims and problems become specific missions the business will work to achieve or resolve. They have to be consequential — capable of moving the business toward its grand strategy — but also achievable.
The second step is to identify which users will benefit most from these missions being delivered: customers, employees, suppliers, wider society, or any users important to the business’s success.
The final step is to take these users’ perspectives and identify what they really want — that’s within our scope of activities to satisfy (see question 2 above) — making reasonable assumptions were our data is incomplete.
Now we can complete a PUN template for each mission:
- The problem we need to solve? (Or aspiration to achieve)
- Which users will benefit most? (Privileging paying users first)
- What do these users want? (Taking their perspective)
The business leader can now prioritise missions to set a clear direction of travel — and task the talent to work out how to get there. Missions can also be communicated back to owners, so everyone is on the same page.
With clear alignment between owner, leader, and talent, the business is poised to move further and faster as everyone is now heading in the same direction.
Quick test
List the top 3 missions you’re working on.
For each mission ask: If this were solved, would it materially advance the grand strategy?
If not, your missions may be mis-specified or mis-prioritised — with resources being spent in a direction the owners didn’t intend and won’t value even if you get there.
What next?
We’ll turn to the art of crafting business strategy. This starts with situational awareness — the most important skill businesses need in a fast-changing, uncertain world.
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