was taught that strategy is something you do to yourself that causes something else to relate or respond differently. tactical is when you operate on something

was taught that strategy is something you do to yourself that causes something else to relate or respond differently. tactical is when you operate on something directly instead of yourself. a strategic move for a company can be things like retooling with new talent in anticipation of being attractive to a new market of customers. a strategic move for a person can be spending the winter lifting weights to get fit for summer. going to school is strategic, working at a job is tactical. developing relationships with suppliers is strategic, assuming JIT delivery is tactical. rebranding and presenting yourself as an AI company is strategic, building infrastructure is tactical. a tactic without a strategy is just a reaction, and a strategy without a tactic is just posturing. they say that "culture eats strategy for breakfast," which imo also implies that without strategy, culture starves. metaphorically, strategy is what you do upstream of engagement. if you are in a canoe or kayak, the orientation of your path through a rapid is strategic (or the choice to portage), the strokes you use to avoid rocks and falls are tactical. not all strategy is bullshit and it may be working on things you can't see, but in tech we get a lot of tactics without a strategy, where we're solving pointless optimization problems hoping that some strategic factor will come along and make them valuable. it's a useful idea with a lot of guff around it.