Strategy and Tactics: What's the difference between strategy and tactics and how can your business benefit from them?

Strategy has been having a wonderful run for management's money. Once, strategy was thestrategy and tactics somewhat arcane province of long-range corporate planners. Now senior managers themselves read the strategic gurus, arrange and attend seminars on strategy and generally add to the torrent of words on the subject. Many of them also take strategic action - though consultant Ben Tregoe is undoubtedly right in comparing strategy to sex: 'when all is said and done, more is said than done.'

In comparison, tactics are the opposite: plenty is done, but little is said. The implication is that strategy is the superior mental and managerial activity: tactics can safely be left to the lower orders. In fact, that notion is doubly wrong. First, the more people below board level are involved in framing strategy, the better its content and execution are likely to be. Second, no strategy can be better than its tactical execution. Yet one highly intelligent consultant, working on a book on top management's strategic role, has been rebuked by friendly advisers for confusing strategy with tactics.