The Essence of Strategy is Sacrifice

As David Ogilvy said, "The essence of strategy is sacrifice."


In many ways, Ogilvy is the father of modern advertising. A true Mad Men team member. And even though he said this many years ago, it still rings true today.


Here’s the simple and salient truth. You can’t be all things to all people or you end up meaning nothing to everyone.


You have to focus on the smallest, most focused audience you can deeply resonate with and slowly expand from there. If you’re not upsetting or confusing some group of the mass market… you might not be diving deep enough into who you are.


Is your business strategy too wide? If you haven’t said no recently it might be.


No to certain messages. No to new products. No to people. No to meetings.