I just bought my third pair of shoes for our upcoming international trip. And a new jacket. And a different backpack.
Each purchase feels like it’s solving a critical gap—until I spot the next thing I “need.”
My therapist had a field day with this.
“You’re trying to buy your way out of anxiety,” she said. “Each purchase feels like it’ll finally put the worry to bed, but it doesn’t. It just moves the anxiety to the next item on your list.”
Ouch… and accurate.
My real issue isn’t that I don’t have the right gear. After all, we’re going to a first-world country. With stores.
My real issue is a combination of wanting to feel prepared for anything, plus general overwhelm from life right now, which is making this trip feel bigger than it is.
In reflection, I realized executive teams do this exact same thing.
When leaders are anxious about strategy, where they’re going and how they’ll get there, they often default to tactical buying sprees:
- New shiny software that will fix our customer experience gaps
- That expensive consultant who will solve our go-to-market challenges
- A rockstar hire who will close our revenue shortfall
- The latest-and-greatest process that will eliminate our operational issues
Each solution feels like it’s addressing a critical gap. Except it’s not. It’s just a colorful band-aid until the next spring of anxiety emerges.
Just like my shoe situation, these point solutions are often anxiety management in disguise. It’s easier to execute than slowing down to ask the harder questions:
- What are we actually afraid of here?
- What’s the bigger picture we’re trying to create?
- Are we solving the right problem, or just the most visible one?
The most effective strategic work I do with executive teams happens when we stop rushing toward solutions and start sitting with the discomfort of not knowing.
We get curious about what’s driving the urgency to “fix” everything right now and ask “What does success actually looks like?” before doubling down on solutions to get there.
Real strategy isn’t a shopping list of tactics that will magically solve challenges.
It’s the discipline and perseverance to understand what you’re really trying to achieve—and why you’re so anxious about not having it all figured out.
Sometimes the best thing you can do for your strategy is the same thing I need to do for my packing: Stop buying things and start asking what you’re really worried about.
Your business probably has everything it already needs. The question to ask is how you can apply what you have to solve the right problem.
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