Print this when your “strategy” lives in a deck nobody opens after the workshop. A one-page strategy forces clarity in plain English—what winning looks like, where you’ll play, how you’ll win, what you must be good at, and what you will stop—so the plan can sit on a wall, guide weekly decisions, and survive Monday.
There’s a moment in every planning session that tells you whether the plan will live or die.
It usually happens right after the workshop, when people go back to real work and the calendar starts shouting again.
Someone asks, “Can you remind me what we decided?”
If the answer is, “Wait, let me pull up the deck,” you already know what will happen next. The deck will be admired, filed, and forgotten—not because people don’t care, but because the strategy is not portable. It can’t travel into daily decisions. It can’t sit beside a manager’s laptop during a messy week and say, “Here’s what we’re protecting.”
That’s why I like one-page strategies.
Not because they’re trendy.
Because they force the discipline that Bold Bets depends on: clarity. If strategy is the bold bets you make to earn Obvious Choice—then deserve Only Choice—with your ideal clients, then those bets must be simple enough to remember, specific enough to guide decisions, and visible enough to protect.
If your strategy can’t fit on one page, it’s usually not strategy yet.
It’s a collection of ideas waiting to be chosen.
Why one page works when you’re busy
A one-page strategy does three things traditional plans struggle with.
First, it makes choices visible. You can’t hide behind 40 slides. You have to commit. When a strategy is vague, every department can claim their initiative is “aligned.” When it’s clear, alignment stops being a feeling and becomes a test.
Second, it makes communication easier. Leaders can repeat it. Managers can teach it. Teams can reference it without needing a workshop recap. When strategy becomes teachable, it becomes usable.
Third, it makes review possible. When strategy is on one page, your monthly review becomes a decision conversation, not a reporting marathon. You can see the whole bet at once—what you’re trying to win, where you’re playing, how you win, what you’re stopping, what you’re building, what you’re doing in the next 90 days, and how you’ll keep it alive.
One page doesn’t oversimplify strategy.
It strips away the noise that kills execution.
The Bold Bets one-page template
Think of the page as the Bold Bets flow in seven parts. It starts with winning, then choices, then capability, then the 90-day moves, then the rhythm.
1) Winning (12–36 months)
One sentence. Measurable. Specific enough to guide decisions.
2) Where we play
The customers, market, channels, and offers you will focus on.
3) How we win
Your believable advantage. Not a generic word. A distinct edge customers can feel.
4) Tradeoffs (what we stop)
The stops that create space for focus. Real stops, not polite suggestions.
5) Capabilities to build
Not just “must be true,” but what you must be able to do consistently for the bet to work.
6) The next 90 days: 3 moves
Three moves that make the strategy real now.
7) Strategy rhythm
Weekly protection, monthly decisions, quarterly reset.
That’s the whole page.
Not a document to admire.
A tool to run.
A filled-out example you can actually use
Let’s use a fictional but realistic company: a regional service business that wants to grow without becoming chaotic.
1) Winning (18 months)
“Become the preferred provider for mid-market clients in CALABARZON, increasing repeat clients from 25% to 40% while maintaining 95% on-time service delivery.”
2) Where we play
“We focus on mid-market operations teams in manufacturing and logistics, serving CALABARZON first, through direct sales and referral partnerships.”
3) How we win
“We win through reliable turnaround and proactive service—fewer surprises, faster resolution, clear communication.”
4) Tradeoffs (what we stop)
Stop accepting custom requests without paid scope.
Stop pursuing low-fit accounts that consume support time.
Stop launching new offers until service consistency improves.
Stop meetings that don’t move the 90-day moves.
5) Capabilities to build (the bet depends on these)
Service standards must be consistent across branches, not dependent on who is on shift.
Frontline supervisors must be trained and authorized to resolve issues without escalation.
Delays must be tracked in real time, and acted on weekly—not discovered at month-end.
Pricing must fund the premium promise instead of forcing the team into heroics.
6) Next 90 days: 3 moves
Standardize the service process and handoffs across branches.
Train frontline supervisors on service recovery and decision authority.
Redesign the referral program with clear incentives and follow-up workflow.
7) Strategy rhythm
Weekly: 15-minute Bet Protection Check (remove blockers, protect the moves).
Monthly: 60–90 minute Bold Bets Decision Review (stop/change/double down).
Quarterly: half-day Strategy Reset (refresh choices, capability focus, next 90 days).
Notice what happens when you read it.
You can explain it without slides. You can see what to say no to. You can see what to build. You can see what the next 90 days should be about. Most importantly, you can carry it into Monday.
That’s the point.
How to use the one-page strategy in real life
A one-page plan is not something you print and frame.
It’s something you use as a decision filter.
Here are three moments when it becomes powerful.
When a new initiative appears
Before you add it, ask: Which part of our Bold Bets does this strengthen? If the answer is unclear, it’s probably distraction.
Then ask the tradeoff question that reveals the truth:
If we do this, what are we stopping?
Because adding without stopping is how strategy quietly dies.
When teams disagree
Bring the debate back to choices, not personalities.
Does this help us win in our chosen playing field, with our chosen advantage? Does it strengthen the capabilities our bet depends on, or does it pull attention away?
The one-page keeps arguments from becoming emotional. It makes them strategic.
During reviews
Use the one-page as the meeting agenda.
Instead of asking for department updates, ask the questions that keep strategy alive:
Are we still trying to win this way? Are our tradeoffs still real, or have we drifted back? Are we building the capabilities we said we need? Are the 90-day moves moving?
That’s how you avoid reporting theater.
That’s how you keep decisions connected to the bet.
Common mistakes (and the quick fix)
The most common mistake is that one page becomes vague. Leaders write words that sound nice but can’t guide action. The fix is simple: make statements testable. Replace “improve” with a measurable outcome. Replace “quality” with a customer-visible standard.
Another mistake is soft tradeoffs. Leaders write stops that don’t touch calendars, budgets, or behavior. The fix is to write tradeoffs that actually create space, even if they’re uncomfortable.
Another mistake is too many moves. When everything is a move, nothing is a move. The fix is to choose three and park the rest.
And the biggest mistake is no rhythm. A one-page strategy without rhythm is still a poster. The fix is to schedule the weekly check and monthly decision review immediately—before workshop energy fades and urgency steals the calendar.
A practical push
Today, take your current strategic plan and run a simple test.
Try to write it on one page using the seven sections above.
If you can’t, don’t panic.
That’s not failure. That’s clarity.
It means you have a collection of good ideas that still need real choices, real tradeoffs, and a real capability agenda. Once you make those choices, everything gets lighter.
Because strategy that fits on one page has a better chance of surviving Monday.
