A strategy coordinates action to address a specific challenge. It is not defined by the pay grade of the person authorizing the action. - Richard P. Rumelt

The kernel of a strategy contains three elements: a diagnosis, a guiding policy, and coherent action.

Nelson’s challenge was that he was outnumbered. His strategy was to risk his lead ships in order to break the coherence of his enemy’s fleet. With coherence lost, he judged, the more experienced English captains would come out on top in the ensuing melee. Good strategy almost always looks this simple and obvious and does not take a thick deck of PowerPoint slides to explain. It does not pop out of some "strategic management" tool, matrix, chart, triangle, or fill-in-the-blanks scheme. Instead, a talented leader identifi es the one or two critical issues in the situation—the pivot points that can multiply the effectiveness of effort—and then focuses and concentrates action and resources on them.

The kernel of strategy contains three elements: