In today’s business climate, there’s so much emphasis on hustle.
Hustle harder and you’ll win. Hustle harder and you grow. Hustle harder and you’ll succeed.
But, hustle alone isn’t enough.
Strategy is just as important.
How often have you been in a meeting and the conversation jumps to something akin to “We just need results. Fast.” Too often (and I say this based on personal experience), startups and other companies focused on quick results don’t like to invest the time in a carefully crafted strategy. They just want to get stuff done. 100 mph is the default speed. Taking this “pedal to the metal” approach will score some incremental victories along the way. But, a victory here or a victory there isn’t the best, most desirable outcome. Maximizing opportunities — while being efficient and effective — requires thoughtful planning. And, yes, sometimes that means you have to slow down.
(Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean you have to spend months or even weeks on strategy development. But, it does require you to take a step back to evaluate what you’re doing. Even devoting a bit of time to laying out a plan is an investment well worth making.)
So, the next time you find yourself jumping in without a road map, recall that the best outcomes stem from hustlergy: Hustle + strategy.
Credit to Eric Koester for introducing me to the term hustlergy a few years ago.