The word “strategy” is everywhere. Actual strategists are rare.
Statistically, only about 4–7% of leaders are considered skilled at strategic thinking and fewer than 4% of people are “innate strategists”.
So, chances are, you were not born one.

Even so, in executive job applications, more than 95% of people say they are “strategic thinkers”.
Many use the label “strategist”, few match what it actually requires.

However, strategy involves both innate tendencies and developed skills.
Anyone can become a strategist through practice and analysis, by focusing on core skills like problem framing and critical analysis.
In that sense, a strategist is both born and made.

If you are not yet a strategist but can and want to become one, then the question that follows is unavoidable: what is strategy, after all?

Michael Porter, from Harvard, said that strategy is about choices and trade-offs. For him, it is “is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities.”

The Strategic Thinking Institute defines strategy as “the intelligent allocation of resources through a unique system of activities to achieve a goal”, emphasizing purpose in the pursuit of a unique vision.

For practical purposes, people often separate strategy into three activities: strategic planning, strategic thinking, and problem-solving.

Strategic planning operates in a specific timeframe, usually appearing as an annual ritual.
It became popular in the 1960s, and focused on aligning goals, drafting plans and programming initiatives.

Although it can produce a solid competitive position, it struggles in the fast-changing world we live in nowadays.
In many contexts, treating strategy as something revisited once a year is no longer sufficient.
Andrew Ishimaru calls this a “superliquid world”, “a world you’re under constant threat from competitors who might innovate & operate faster than you”.

In addition to this, today strategic planning is often reduced to spreadsheet work.
Managers optimize numbers instead of pursuing a clear vision through a practical roadmap.
Henry Mintzberg warned about this in 1994: “strategic planning often spoils strategic thinking, causing managers to confuse real vision with the manipulation of numbers.”

At this point, it is no longer strategy. This is just administration.
Real strategists work differently. They engage with day-to-day operations, examine how, when, and why things actually happen, and connect small details to the bigger picture

Strategic thinking is a different activity.

Chris Anstead stated in 2020, “strategic thinking can be defined as combining logic (or linear thinking) and creativity (or non-linear thinking) to make decisions and take action in complex environments.”

You can see strategic thinking in practice playing Chess.
The board is a small version of a dynamic world.
In this world, every move shapes future options.
You aim at checkmate, the environment and its actors are constantly changing against you.

Benjamin Gilad describes another real world strategic thinking exercise in the book “Business War Games” called “role playing”.

You act as a competitor, a regulator, or another player in the environment. You ask: “What will they do next?” and “What is my best move now?”

This forces you to see the situation from several angles.
It is a safe way to test ideas before implementing them in the real world.

Strategic thinking looks ahead.
It searches for options to achieve a goal.
It guides decisions toward long-term advantage.

Problem-solving serves a different purpose.

It is usually reactive and structured. A problem appears, you analyze it and then you fix it.

Sometimes it is proactive. You question old standards and propose better ones. In rigid environments, this may be seen as a threat. In innovative environments, it is often encouraged and celebrated rather than being dismissed as an affront.

Problem-solving focuses on a specific issue. It contains the impact or prevents further damage.
It corrects what is broken and, when executed well, it strengthens the underlying process so the issue does not recur.

To sum up, strategy often fails in practice not because of complexity, but because of a flawed perspective on what it truly is.

Strategic planning answers:
“What are we trying to accomplish, how and by when?”

Strategic thinking answers:
What game are we playing, what is our goal, and how do we win over time to get there?

And problem-solving answers:
“How do we fix this specific situation?”

All three matter: planning, thinking, and solving problems.
By nature, strategy lives where direction, choices, and long-term advantage meet.