Why Strategy Needs More Than a Growth Target, According to Eric Partaker

In a recent LinkedIn post, Eric Partaker argues that many companies confuse strategic priorities with the plans and targets meant to support them. His post draws on a management survey and examples from Skype and Blockbuster to make the case that a clear strategy should guide a company’s choices over time. This article reports on Partaker’s LinkedIn post and examines the distinction he draws.

“The people executing the strategy couldn’t say what it was.”

Strategy is not a target or a to-do list

Partaker says he sees the same gap among founders he coaches: leaders may have roadmaps, quarterly sprints and extensive KPIs, yet struggle to state the strategy behind them. In his view, a goal such as growing 50% in a year describes an intended outcome, not the basis for choosing how to compete.

He separates strategy from planning with two questions. Strategy asks where a company is now and where it wants to be; plans identify the next steps toward that destination. As Partaker puts it:

“Strategy defines your competitive edge. Plans define Tuesday’s meeting agenda.”

The distinction matters because plans are operational and changeable, while Partaker argues that a strategy should provide a steadier direction. A company can revise its quarterly activities without losing sight of the advantage it is trying to build.

One sentence can align a team

Partaker illustrates his point with Skype, whose growth he says he helped support. He describes its strategy as “the whole world can talk for free,” and contrasts that mission with competitors he says were focused on market share. According to Partaker, the sentence gave team members a shared understanding of the company’s purpose and proved more useful than any roadmap.

His example suggests that a concise strategy is valuable not simply because it is memorable, but because it can help employees make decisions consistent with the company’s competitive position. Partaker’s emphasis is on clarity across the team: people carrying out the work should be able to explain the direction they are pursuing.

Execution cannot rescue the wrong direction

For a counterexample, Partaker points to Blockbuster. He notes that the video rental chain had thousands of stores and detailed plans, yet passed on an opportunity to buy Netflix for $50 million in 2000. He uses the episode to argue that operational discipline alone cannot compensate for a failure to adapt strategically.

“Strategy picks your battles. Plans win them.”

That line captures the central argument of Partaker’s post: planning helps an organization execute, but strategy determines which opportunities and competitive choices deserve that effort. His closing question—asking readers to name the clearest one-sentence strategy they have heard—invites leaders to test whether their own strategic direction is understandable enough to guide action.