Crafting Strategy: Lessons from Mintzberg
If you’re a founder struggling with strategy, you’re not alone. Many founders assume that strategy is a fixed roadmap—a detailed plan they must execute perfectly from day one. But strategy, like business itself, is often messy, evolving, and shaped by real-world experience.
This is where Henry Mintzberg’s perspective on strategy offers an important insight. Unlike traditional “deliberate” strategy models that emphasize long-term planning, Mintzberg argues that strategy also emerges over time through decisions, actions, and adjustments. In other words, rather than being a rigid plan, strategy can be discovered through experimentation, market feedback, and real-world learning.
Mintzberg on Strategy: An Evolving Process
Mintzberg describes strategy as a pattern in a stream of decisions—some intentional, some reactive. This means that:
- Strategy is not just planned; it emerges as a company navigates real challenges.
- Founders must be open to adaptation rather than rigidly sticking to a predefined plan.
- Strategic clarity comes from action—not just from sitting in a room brainstorming.
For many founders, this approach is liberating. Instead of feeling pressure to “get the strategy perfect” before moving forward, they can take action, observe results, and refine their approach based on experience.
Here’s a great video to learn more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vpvU5fIyOA
How to Let Strategy Emerge in Your Business
So, how do you put Mintzberg’s thinking into practice? Here are three ways:
Start with a Direction, Not a Blueprint
Don’t worry about perfecting a 5-year plan upfront. Instead, focus on a clear vision and guiding principles while allowing flexibility in execution.
2. Test and Learn Continuously
Treat your business decisions as experiments. Pilot new offerings, iterate based on feedback, and adjust as needed rather than waiting for the “perfect” strategy.
3. Look for Patterns in Your Decisions
Every time you make a choice—who you hire, which clients you take, what services you refine—you’re shaping strategy. Step back regularly to identify patterns in these choices.
This perspective on strategy is particularly valuable for early-stage and scaling founders who need to stay agile. However, as businesses grow, structure and clarity become essential to scale effectively. That’s where a more structured strategic framework becomes crucial.
The Founded Partners Approach: From Emerging Strategy to Structured Execution
At Founded Partners, we help founders transition from strategic emergence to structured execution. While we respect Mintzberg’s view on how strategy evolves, we also believe that scaling requires discipline and clarity.
In our consulting work, Matt often works with founders to first establish a strategic frame (The Strategic Frame by Allan L. Cohen & Kevin B. Kuechler) that ensures all strategic choices are not only aligned with the company’s mission and commitments, but also leverage their unique assets and market insights. Within this frame compelling Customer Value Propositions can be developed that delight customers and propel the organization's strategy.
In our advisory work, we help founders develop a clear vision for success and implement structured goal-setting frameworks:
Vision for Success
Before defining strategic goals, we help founders clarify what success means to them—both personally and professionally. This goes beyond revenue targets to include lifestyle, freedom, and long-term aspirations.
BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)
Inspired by Jim Collins, the BHAG is a 10-30 year goal that represents the company’s ultimate aspiration. It’s bold, ambitious, and serves as a guiding star for long-term decisions.
3HAG (3-Year Highly Achievable Goal)
Unlike the BHAG, the 3HAG is designed to be attainable with the company’s current capabilities. It sets a clear target for scaling toward the BHAG, ensuring short-term wins drive long-term success.
Strategic Imperatives
Strategic imperatives are the 3-5 high-level focus areas that will move the company toward its 3HAG. These could be market expansion, product innovation, or operational efficiency improvements.
Annual Goals & Project Plans
Each strategic imperative is broken down into yearly goals and detailed project plans.
But the key to execution? Accountability.
How We Keep Founders Accountable
Many founders are the “person responsible for keeping everyone else accountable.” But who holds them accountable?
At Founded Partners, we use weekly project plan reviews to ensure that:
Founders are consistently focused on strategic goals, not just daily operations.
Progress is tracked, and adjustments are made proactively.
Executives stay accountable for driving the business forward.
This simple habit keeps strategic execution alive, ensuring founders don’t get trapped in the “operational vortex” of day-to-day firefighting.
Final Thoughts: Founders Need Both Emergence and Structure
Mintzberg teaches us that strategy is not just planned—it emerges from real-world experience. But scaling a business requires more than emergence—it demands structure, clear goals, and accountability.
At Founded Partners, we help founders balance both:
- The flexibility to let strategy evolve
- The structure to execute effectively
- The accountability to stay focused
If you’re struggling with strategy, we’d love to chat. Let’s craft a plan that works for you—one that aligns with your vision, keeps you accountable, and drives real growth.