Bernd Best

Strategy belongs in the calendar, not in the cupboard.

I'm Bernd Best, a strategy advisor and author. I work with owners and leadership teams of mid-sized companies so that strategy starts on Monday morning instead of ending in a document.

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Bernd Best, strategy advisor wearing transparent glasses in front of a bookshelf

Four questions a good strategy answers

This is the order I work through with leadership teams.

  1. 1

    Where are we now?

    Outside in and inside out, customers and buying reasons, strengths and weaknesses.

  2. 2

    Where do we want to go?

    Direction, the owners' expectations and the developments that will change your business.

  3. 3

    How do we get there?

    Trade-offs, a few battles and activities with owners.

  4. 4

    How does it stay alive?

    Rhythm, watching your assumptions and strategy in the daily work of many.

Strategy check: 12 questions for owners and leadership teams

Answer each question with Yes, Partly or No. Do the check on your own first, then with your leadership team. The differences between your answers are often more revealing than the answers themselves.

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Where are we now?

Outside in and inside out, customers and buying reasons, strengths and weaknesses.

Does our leadership team share one fact-based picture of where we stand today?If people see the starting point differently, they quietly plan different routes.
Do we know why customers choose us, and have we asked them ourselves recently?Buying reasons that are only assumed lead to strategies for customers who don't exist.
Can we name our most important weaknesses openly without the room going quiet?What isn't said out loud can't be addressed.

Where do we want to go?

Direction, the owners' expectations and the developments that will change your business.

Can every member of the leadership team explain in two sentences where the company wants to go in the coming years, and do those sentences sound alike?A direction only one person can put into words isn't a shared one yet.
Have the owners' expectations on risk, growth, control and succession been spoken about and written down?Unspoken boundaries slow down every plan, often just when it gets expensive.
Do we know the developments outside the company that will change our business most in the coming years, and have we thought through what they mean for us?Nobody knows what's coming, but if you know the possible futures, you decide more calmly today.

How do we get there?

Trade-offs, a few battles and activities with owners.

Have we deliberately stopped or declined something in the past year because it didn't fit our strategy?Strategy shows most clearly in what you no longer do.
Can we name the three to five battles we have to win, and is it really no more than that?Focus only appears once the list is short.
Does every important activity have a reason, a timeframe, an owner, a budget and a status?If one of these is missing, the activity remains an intention.

How does it stay alive?

Rhythm, watching your assumptions and strategy in the daily work of many.

Is the strategy a fixed, regular item on the leadership team's agenda, with a short look at the status of each priority?What isn't looked at regularly quietly loses importance.
Would we notice in time if an important assumption changed, and would we know which activities are affected?A plan that doesn't respond to change turns into an archive.
Do people across the company know which of their tasks contribute to which strategic goal?Strategy lives in the daily work of many, not in the heads of a few.

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How I work

  • A few priorities

    Three to five battles you have to win, and the courage to leave the rest.

  • Strategy is teamwork

    The more people carry the plan, the more ownership and impact it gets.

  • A plan, not a paper

    Every activity has a reason, a timeframe, an owner, a budget and a status.

  • Assumptions in view

    When something changes, you know which activities are affected and where people have to decide.

  • AI supports thinking

    It helps with drafts and with looking ahead. Deciding and taking responsibility stays with you.

  • In confidence

    Strategy is the most sensitive thing a company has. I treat it that way.

About Bernd Best

Bernd Best is a strategy advisor and author. He works with owners, managing directors and their leadership teams in mid-sized companies, first in the German-speaking region and internationally in English. His approach: clear, sober, practical, no consultant jargon. He takes owners seriously, including their unspoken boundaries.

Bernd Best on LinkedIn

Let's talk for 30 minutes

Send me your answers, or just the block that concerns you most. In a 30-minute conversation we'll look together at where your strategy stands today, what it could look like on a single page and which next step suits you. No obligation, in confidence.

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