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The Allied effort in World War II was a gigantic and complex undertaking. There were twenty-six allies, each with its own government and armed forces. Every amphibious landing or troop movement or supply mission would be "the biggest ever" until the next one came along.

Even so, the Allied strategy in World War II was simple: "Work together to defeat the Axis Powers, securing victory in Europe first."

Jack Welch, who ought to know something about it, had a similar approach. Here's his take on strategy.

"In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell."

It's hard to explain a three-volume, number-filled, strategic plan to mid-level managers and people on the front lines. Simple strategies are easier to explain and easier to implement.

Try putting your strategy into a slogan or a sentence or a couple of sentences that everyone can understand and use as a guide to action. Here are some examples. .

"Southwest is the low fare airline."

"Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen."

"Publix, where shopping is a pleasure."

"Everyday low prices"

The big payoff from simplicity is that your people understand your strategy without a lot of rollout. You won't need professionally-designed PowerPoint slides. Instead of spending money on a year-long program cascading the new strategy through the company, you can get right to work.

Check out my latest book, Ruthless Focus, at Amazon.

Posts about Ruthless Focus

Ruthless Focus: How to use key core strategies to grow your business
The Story of the Book
Annotated Table of Contents
Strategy: Staying with What Works
Ruthless Focus on the Business Basics
Theo Albrecht, Trader Joe's, and Ruthless Focus
Ruthless Focus: What about Toyota?
Ruthless Focus: Three Kinds of Crisis
The story of Yahoo's shifting strategy
Tom Stemberg, Staples, and the Two Strategy Questions
How Doing Acquisitions is like being a Fighter Pilot
Learning about Differentiation from Barbeque
Danger, Trader Joes!