From a top down perspective, strategy is a how. As you say, it is how you accomplish your vision. But from a bottom up (implementation) standpoint, it can also

From a top down perspective, strategy is a how. As you say, it is how you accomplish your vision. But from a bottom up (implementation) standpoint, it can also be a why. Why are you doing these particular actions? As part of the strategy to accomplish the goal. A well articulated strategy acts as a linking layer between ultra-high level goals and lower level decisions. We don't expect all actors in a large enough organization to re-derive all of their plans from first principles (nor do we want them to always do that), so a well defined strategy is essentially a pre-determined framework to operate in.