Strategy Isn't a Plan - and That Difference Could Change Everything
Most of the people I speak with on this show are smart, capable, and deeply experienced. And yet a surprising number of them are working without a clear strategy - not because they don't care about direction, but because no one ever explained what strategy actually is, and how it's different from the planning they do every single day.
That's exactly what this conversation with Charlie Curzon is about.
Charlie is a coach, strategist, and advisor with more than two decades of experience helping leaders, teams, and organisations think more effectively. His book, Be More Strategic: 12 Essential Practises to Build the Life and Career You Want, turns one of the most overused words in business into something genuinely teachable, practical, and personal.
Three things we got into:
✳️ Strategy is about choices in uncertainty - not a five-year plan. Charlie draws on Roger Martin's strategy cascade to show how winning aspiration, where to play, and how to win work together as a thinking triangle that sharpens decisions before you ever get to planning.
✳️ The Strategy Mastery Framework is a four-level circular model built from years of working with real leaders in business, sport, and the military. It begins with self-awareness - because state precedes strategy - and builds through open-mindedness, strategic skills, and the ability to bring others on board.
✳️ Being strategic isn't just for work. Charlie makes the case that surfacing assumptions, asking "what if," and tracking how those assumptions shift over time are daily practises that apply just as well to life as to any boardroom decision.
Charlie's amplifiers:
✳️ Read The Go-Giver by Bob Burg - a short, parable-style book about generosity of spirit that Charlie credits with reinforcing the relational approach behind much of his work.
✳️ Track your energy, not just your time. Based on Jim Loehr's book On Form, Charlie recommends keeping a three-day energy diary - logging what gives you energy and what drains it - to uncover patterns and improve your capacity for clear thinking.
✳️ Journal daily, ideally with pen and paper. Even a couple of minutes. Charlie does it twice a day and notes the growing evidence that handwriting engages the mind differently to typing. If you're ready to go deeper, try journalling through a values lens.
If this conversation got you thinking about how you're making decisions - at work or in life - then I'd love it if you took a moment to follow or subscribe. That way you'll never miss an episode, and it helps me keep bringing guests like Charlie to the show.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Preview: the winning aspiration
00:38 - Welcome and guest introduction
01:49 - Charlie's world: a typical week
03:12 - Strategy vs planning - what's the real difference?
05:06 - Why strategy raises anxiety and planning feels safe
06:54 - Roger Martin's strategy cascade: aspiration, where to play, how to win
10:56 - Strategy as subtraction - ruling things out
11:29 - The Game Changer Index and natural vs learned strategic thinking
15:18 - The power of asking "what if?" and surfacing assumptions
16:52 - The Strategy Mastery Framework explained
19:33 - Level 1: self-awareness - state precedes strategy
20:41 - Level 2: open-mindedness and critical thinking
20:41 - Levels 3 and 4: future focus, influence, and collaboration
21:51 - The testimonial story: senior leaders surprised by Level 1
24:03 - What separates those who thrive from those who bump along
25:04 - Strategic capability under pressure
27:16 - The CEO who had a strategy but didn't know it
29:13 - The 12-month trap and what a longer horizon changes
33:27 - Building a personal practise of strategic mastery
34:45 - Living strategically - what that actually looks like
36:44 - The Lego castle story: articulating a hidden aspiration
38:00 - Tracking assumptions as a daily life practise
40:08 - Journaling as a strategic tool
41:12 - How Charlie builds his business - relationships first
43:49 - Why content is for staying present, not finding strangers
45:21 - Amplifier 1: The Go-Giver
47:34 - Amplifier 2: On Form and managing energy not time
48:08 - Amplifier 3: Journaling, values, and pen and paper
49:24 - Where to find Charlie and upcoming masterclasses
51:40 - Close and Bob's final CTA
Visit Charlie's website. https://www.teammandarin.com/
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