Strategy
Make bold bets. Get focus. Become the obvious choice.
If your team is busy but your results feel stuck, you don’t need another plan.
You need strategy—the few choices you can defend.
I define strategy as Bold Bets: clear decisions that force tradeoffs, build must-have capabilities, and move you from being compared… to being chosen.
This hub will help CEOs, executives, and HR leaders in the Philippines:
- answer the 5 strategy questions that real strategic thinkers use
- cut the initiatives that dilute focus
- design a strategy you can run on Monday—not just present
Start here → Learn the 5 Strategy Questions
Explore → Strategy Experiences
Why strategy feels harder than it should
Marco runs a solid business in Laguna. Good people. Good product. Revenue is okay.
But last quarter, he sat in his office staring at a list of “priorities” his team submitted.
There were twelve. Twelve “top” priorities.
He laughed—then he sighed. Because he knew what would happen next.
They would meet. Someone would present a deck. Everybody would sound reasonable. Nobody would say, “Let’s stop this.” They would call it alignment, approve almost everything, and go back to work carrying the same weight—just more organized.
A week later, Marco got an email from a potential client: “Please send your proposal.”
Not “When can we start?”
Not “We chose you.”
Just… proposal.
He forwarded it to his team and typed, “Let’s do our best.”
But deep down, he felt it. They weren’t the obvious choice. They were just one of the choices.
That’s why strategy feels harder than it should.
Because strategy isn’t a meeting where you collect ideas. It’s a moment where you choose a few—and let the rest go.
If you’ve ever looked at a long list of priorities and wondered, “How did we get here?” you’re not alone.
You’re just finally seeing the real work: making decisions that create focus, and focus that creates advantage.
What Is Strategy? It’s Not a Plan. It’s Bold Bets.
The dictionary says strategy is a plan to achieve a goal.
That sounds harmless.
But it quietly turns strategy into paperwork.
Because once leaders hear “plan,” they reach for timelines, templates, and task lists. They start organizing work before they’ve made the hard calls. They create a plan that looks complete… while the business still feels scattered.
That’s why this matters:
Strategy is not a plan. And a plan is not strategy.
A plan is what you do after you decide.
Strategy is the decision.
Strategy is a set of choices. A set of bold bets.
Choices that force tradeoffs. Choices that make you say no. Choices that tell your team, “This is where we will win—and this is what we will stop doing to win there.”
Here’s my definition.
Strategy is the bold bets you make to earn Obvious Choice—then deserve Only Choice—with your ideal clients.
Earn first, because the market doesn’t owe you trust.
Deserve next, because attention is cheap, but reputation is built through consistent delivery.
That’s the difference between being considered and being chosen.
Most “strategic plans” don’t change your position. They describe your intentions.
Bold bets change your position because they reshape your focus, your capabilities, and your execution—until the right people start saying, “It’s them,” before you even pitch.
So if your strategy still sounds like a plan, don’t write more pages.
Make better choices.
The 5 Questions That Turn Strategy Into Bold Bets
These five questions didn’t come from me.
They came from Roger L. Martin’s Playing to Win—and when I first encountered them, I felt relief. Finally, a way to talk about strategy without drowning people in jargon or forcing them into a 60-page plan.
But I didn’t keep them in “MBA language.”
I brought them home.
I tested them with Filipino CEOs who run family businesses, executives who carry three roles in one title, and HR leaders who are asked to “align the culture” while also putting out fires. In those rooms, strategy isn’t academic. It’s survival. It’s reputation. It’s cash flow. It’s trust.
That’s also why I teach strategy through shift experiences.
Because in real organizations, progress rarely happens through one big transformation. It happens through small shifts that change decisions. A shift in focus. A shift in who you serve. A shift in what you stop doing. A shift in how you measure “winning.”
And when a shift changes your direction, it becomes more than a behavior tweak.
It becomes a pivot.
A leverage point.
In my language, that’s a bold bet.
So I use Martin’s five questions as the backbone, then I interpret them through the lived reality of Filipino teams—where you don’t just need a smart answer. You need an answer you can run on Monday, and defend when pressure hits.
Here are the five questions. Simple. Direct. And if you answer them honestly, you’ll feel your strategy tighten.
First: What is our winning aspiration?
Not your poster. Not your slogan. The win you’re actually chasing.
Second: Where will we play?
The space you will commit to—and the spaces you will stop chasing.
Third: How will we win?
The advantage that makes the right customers choose you without hesitation.
Fourth: What capabilities must we build?
What you must become great at so your promise turns reliable.
Fifth: What management systems will sustain it?
The rhythm that keeps the bet alive after the workshop, after the excitement, after the first setback.
Answer these well, and strategy stops being a document.
It becomes a set of choices your whole organization can feel.
How Strategic Thinkers Think
There’s a difference between a leader who has a strategy and a leader who can think strategically.
The first one can survive a planning session.
The second one can survive a surprise.
Because real life doesn’t follow your calendar, your plan.
A client changes their mind. A competitor copies you. A key person resigns. A budget gets cut. Suddenly, the plan is outdated—but the business still needs direction.
Here’s what I’ve learned working with leaders.
You don’t become a strategic thinker by collecting more strategy tools. And you don’t become one by meditating your way into clarity.
Those can help, yes.
But strategic thinking is not a personality trait. It’s a practice.
You become a strategic thinker by making bold bets—then learning from each bet.
A plan is for what you believe is certain. It’s a way to organize what you already know.
A bet is for what is uncertain. It’s a way to win when the future refuses to behave.
And we live in a world of uncertainty.
So strategic thinkers don’t chase the illusion of perfect information. They make a clear choice, commit, learn fast, and adjust early—before small problems become expensive ones.
That’s why they separate noise from signal. They don’t treat every request like an emergency. They ask, “Is this on-strategy—or is this just urgent?”
They don’t confuse activity with progress. They can look at a busy week and still say, “We moved nothing that matters.”
They name the tradeoff out loud. Instead of hiding behind polite language, they say the uncomfortable sentence: “If we choose this, we stop that.” The room gets quiet—and then the room gets real.
They protect focus with a stop list. Not because they hate ideas, but because they respect energy. They know the organization has a limited amount of attention, and strategy is how you spend it well.
They build capabilities, not slogans. A lot of leaders want “premium” positioning without premium discipline. Strategic thinkers ask, “What must we be reliably good at so the market believes us?”
And they keep a rhythm. They don’t treat strategy as an annual event. They revisit choices weekly, learn, refine, and keep the bold bet alive long enough to compound.
If you want a simple test, try this.
When a new opportunity shows up this week, don’t ask, “Can we do it?”
Ask, “Does this strengthen our bold bet—or does it pull us back into being one of many?”
Tools to Make Strategy Runnable
A bold bet is useless if it stays in your head.
The job is not to sound strategic.
The job is to make strategy runnable—so your team can use it when the day gets messy, when decisions pile up, when opportunities tempt you to drift.
That’s why this hub includes tools.
Not the kind that look good in a binder.
The kind you can pull out in a meeting and say, “Wait. Let’s decide properly.”
Get the complete Strategy Tools Pack
One signup. All the tools. Instant download.
You’ll get:
1) The Bold Bets One-Pager
Your strategy in plain language—one page that clarifies the choices you’re making, the tradeoffs you’re accepting, and the position you’re building: Obvious Choice → Only Choice.
2) The Stop List Builder
A simple way to choose what you will stop this quarter so your bold bet can breathe. Most teams don’t fail from lack of effort. They fail from too much effort, spread thin.
3) The Where-to-Play Filter
A quick decision filter for customers, segments, offers, and channels—so you stop treating every “opportunity” like it belongs to you.
4) The Capabilities Map
A tool to name what you must become great at—skills, systems, people, and partnerships—so your strategy stops being wishful thinking.
5) The 90-Day Moves Sheet
Turn the bold bet into action without overwhelm: three moves only, clear owners, and proof you can see.
Download the Strategy Tools Pack
One signup. All five tools. Use them immediately with your team.
You don’t need a retreat to start.
Pick one tool, use it this week, and watch how fast the conversation changes.
Strategy Experiences: 3 Ways We Work Together
Most teams say they want strategy.
What they really want is this: a clear Winning Play that shows up on Monday—in priorities, meetings, budgets, and decisions.
That’s why I don’t run strategy theater.
I run strategy experiences built around three moves—because teams get stuck in three different moments: the room is blurry, execution is messy, or focus keeps drifting.
DECIDE
Bold Bets™
(Strategy Session)
This is for teams who are busy but blurry.
You don’t need more ideas. You need choices—where you will play, how you will win, and what you will stop doing. We use a Play-to-Win inspired approach, interpreted through the real constraints of Filipino leadership teams.
You leave with three things your team can actually use:
- A clear Where-to-Play / How-to-Win decision set.
- A sharp list of priorities + tradeoffs (including what you stop).
- A simple 90-day Game Plan with owners and a review rhythm—so Monday feels different.
DESIGN
Game Plan™
(Turn Strategy Into Monday Work)
This is for teams who already have direction—but execution is chaos.
You don’t need a thicker plan. You need a plan your managers can run without you repeating yourself. We translate your chosen direction into clear priorities, owners, measures, and a 90-day push—so execution doesn’t depend on reminders and follow-ups.
You leave with:
- A one-page Game Plan your managers can repeat.
- A short list of must-do initiatives and a protected “not now” list.
- A simple score + weekly cadence so the plan stays alive.
Explore Game Plan™
DRIVE
Strategy Rhythm™
(Keep the Bet Alive)
This is for teams who drift every quarter. Your strategy doesn’t need another relaunch. It needs a rhythm.
We build a simple, repeatable meeting cadence so leaders don’t only talk about strategy during retreats. This is where priorities stay protected, blockers surface early, and teams learn faster.
You leave with:
- A clear weekly/monthly rhythm (who meets, what gets decided).
- A simple dashboard that tracks priorities, progress, and stuck points—without heavy reporting.
- A repeatable review script that turns updates into decisions.
Explore Strategy Rhythm™
Not sure which one fits? Start with a 20-minute Strategy Discovery Session. We clarify the winning problem and the next best step—then you decide.
What Changes When Bold Bets Become Real
Let me tell you what usually happens after a team makes bold bets.
The room feels lighter.
Not because work disappears, but because confusion disappears. People stop guessing what matters. Meetings get shorter because decisions get clearer. And the CEO stops carrying the entire strategy in their head.
Marco is a good example.
When his team finally chose where to play—and what to stop—he told me, “Parang huminga kami.” They didn’t magically get more time. They just stopped spending time on the wrong things. A month later, the conversations changed from “update lang” to “decision tayo.” That’s the quiet win most leaders want.
I’ve seen the same shift with an HR leader who came in frustrated.
Her problem wasn’t “engagement.” It was dilution. Every department had their own priorities, so HR kept getting pulled into everything—events, comms, firefighting. Once the exec team clarified the bold bet, HR could finally say, “If this doesn’t strengthen the bet, we won’t build a program around it.” That one sentence turned HR from support function to strategic partner.
And with executive teams, the biggest change is this:
They stop mistaking alignment for strategy.
Before, alignment meant everyone presenting what they want. After, alignment means everyone protecting the same bet—especially when a tempting opportunity shows up.
If you want a simple way to describe the “proof,” it looks like this:
Teams move from many priorities to few choices.
From polite meetings to real tradeoffs.
From planning once a year to a weekly rhythm that keeps the bet alive.
About Jef Menguin
Jef Menguin helps CEOs, executives, and HR leaders in the Philippines make Bold Bets—the few strategy choices that create focus, force tradeoffs, and earn Obvious Choice, then Only Choice, with ideal clients.
He designs and facilitates decision-first strategy workshops for leadership teams—delivered onsite across the Philippines, and also through online sessions for distributed teams. For public programs, he regularly runs workshops in Laguna (Los Baños area) and nearby venues.