I thought I knew what a strategy is (versus, say, tactics or execution); you probably think the same.  Well, I was wrong (and so are you).  The authors of Tribal Leadership managed to surprise me with their definition of "strategy" and all I can say is "wow" (and write a post about it).

It so happens that I finished reading Tribal Leadership the day before I received David Taber's latest newsletter.  The juxtaposition is interesting because in his newsletter David talks about "strategy" and one of the last chapters of the book is also about strategy–tribal strategy, to be exact.

According to David, in the book The Gorilla Game, "Geoffrey Moore makes an argument about the importance of strategy over execution."  In that respect, David and Geoffrey agree with the authors of Tribal Leadership.

Throughout the rest of his post, David assumes the traditional definition of "strategy," based on understanding the external environment.  As I have in the past, when it comes to strategy, most people do not take into consideration "the highest aspirations of the tribe."

As Chip Conley points out in his latest book, Peak, great companies get to be great by paying attention to the highest aspirations of all their stakeholders: customers, investors and employees.

Tribal Leadership defines strategy as having five components,