For many businesses, spring is a natural time to lift their gaze a little. Before the summer holidays begin, discussions often start about what should happen after the break, which priorities should be made, and what direction the company should take moving forward. This is also often when strategic work truly begins, and whenever strategy enters the business agenda, models almost always appear.
SWOT, PESTEL, VRIO, Porter’s Five Forces, and Business Model Canvas are just a few examples, and the list keeps growing alongside new frameworks and methods. Many of these are solid, well-thought-out, and useful tools for structuring thoughts and analyses, but the problem begins when we start treating them as definitive answers.
Two of the Most Common Mistakes
One of the most common mistakes I see is when strategic models are used as a kind of checklist, where people fill in the boxes of a SWOT analysis, go through the points in a PESTEL framework, and answer the questions in a VRIO analysis.
Once all the boxes are filled, there is a feeling that the strategy work is complete. In reality, what has often happened is simply that information has been organized, without any actual strategic decisions being made.
The second, and equally common mistake, is creating a well-developed model, such as a Business Model Canvas, that describes how the company will create value, who the customers are, and how revenue will be generated, only for it to end up forgotten.
It serves as a starting point in the moment, but nobody goes back later to ask the question: Are we actually running the business according to what we agreed on? I have personally experienced a large company with hundreds of employees go bankrupt because it gradually moved away from the foundation its success was originally built on.
Models Provide Structure, Not Answers
The reason strategic models exist is because they help us structure complex challenges and remind us to ask questions we might otherwise overlook, such as:
- what is happening in the market around us
- what strengths and weaknesses we have internally
- which resources actually give us a competitive advantage
- which trends may affect the business moving forward
Strategy Always Involves Choices
A strategy always involves choices, whether it is about what to focus on, what to avoid, or where resources should actually be allocated, and this is where strategic work truly begins.
Two companies can perform exactly the same analysis and still arrive at completely different strategies, because strategic choices always involve priorities, risk, and interpretation of information.
In many ways, strategic models can be compared to maps. They can help us understand the terrain, show possible directions and obstacles, but they are still only simplified representations of reality. If you have the competence and equipment, it may be faster to go straight over the mountain, while your competitor chooses the safer route around it.
There are still no models capable of capturing the entire picture. Markets change, technology evolves, competitors make unexpected moves, and new regulations can quickly rewrite the rules of the game. That is why strategic work must remain dynamic, where models provide direction but must always be interpreted in light of what is actually happening.
The Flying Pink Unicorn Strategy
In an earlier article, I wrote about what I jokingly called the “flying pink unicorn strategy,” where the point was that strategy without methods and structure quickly becomes wishful thinking rather than realism.
Because at the end of the day, it is better to have a plan than not to have one. Without a method, it becomes difficult to know what is actually working, what should be adjusted, and what is simply coincidence.
But the uncritical use of models can make strategic work so structured that people lose the ability to think for themselves. They follow the framework but forget to ask the uncomfortable questions that genuinely challenge the direction they are heading in. The result is often a safe-looking facade, where the analysis appears impressive on paper, while the real strategic decisions are never actually made.
In many ways, this resembles what I have previously described as idea paralysis. The difference is simply that here the issue is not a lack of structure, but perhaps too much of it, without it ever leading to action. People plan, analyze, and document, but never quite reach the point where they make the decisions that move the business forward.
Models Are Tools, Strategy Is Thinking
Strategic models are not useless. On the contrary, when used correctly, they can be extremely valuable. They can bring structure to complex discussions, help teams view challenges from multiple perspectives, and uncover weaknesses or opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed.
But that is exactly what they are: tools. And like all tools, it is not the tool itself that determines the outcome, but how it is used.
At the end of the day, strategy is less about models and more about thinking, about the ability to ask good questions, see connections, and make decisions even when information is incomplete. Models can help you understand the game, but they can never play it for you.
At the same time, they can serve an important role within teams. You may personally hold many of the answers, or at least have a clear direction in mind, but that does not mean the rest of the team sees the same thing. Spending a few minutes filling out a model together can be a simple way to bring multiple perspectives to the table, create shared understanding, and align everyone’s thinking.
Or put another way: I use models as training wheels, not as steering wheels, and sometimes also as a language to bring others along for the journey.
