What an Army officer and Jeff Bezos taught me about strategic thinking
A few years ago, I was talking to an Army officer. In a casual conversation, he shared something that has stayed with me ever since.
He told me that in the Army, work is handled by three kinds of teams.
The Three Teams
1. The Operations team. Their job is to take care of what happens every single day. Food supply, equipment, logistics. The routine things that must keep running, no matter what.
2. The Tactical team. India is a large country. Every now and then, an incident happens somewhere. The tactical team’s job is to respond to these situations, quickly and effectively.
3. The Strategic team. Their job is to think about the future. Where should we be three years from now? Four years from now? What do we need to prepare today, so that India is ready tomorrow?
So in simple words:
- Operations is for today. The regular, daily things.
- Tactical is for what just happened. The incidents.
- Strategic is for the long term. The future.
Now Look Around You
When I look at the news and social media today, I see a clear pattern.
Operations is the normal background. It keeps running and nobody pays much attention to it.
Tactical gets almost all the attention. Something happens, it becomes news, and news has a natural pull. Newspapers, TV channels and social media all keep talking about it, because it is new and recent.
But in all these conversations, one thing is missing. The strategic part. The long-term thinking.
Maybe it is because strategy feels like it is meant only for leaders, not for the masses. Whatever the reason, it is missing.
Your Career Is a Strategic Decision
Here is what I want you to understand.
Your career is not an operational thing. It is not a tactical thing. It is strategic.
What you are learning today. Which skills you are building. How you are improving yourself. Where you want to be in three years. These are strategic decisions.
So why are we spending most of our time on the tactical noise?
You Control More Than You Think
What you see on social media is partly in your control. Yes, the algorithm decides a lot. But it learns from you.
If you keep watching daily incidents and trending news out of natural curiosity, your feed will keep throwing more of the same at you. And slowly, your mind will live in the tactical world.
But if you start looking for strategic content, if you start following thought leaders who talk about long-term growth, the algorithm will start showing you that.
So the next time you are scrolling, ask yourself one simple question:
Is this operational, tactical, or strategic?
Because in the long run, what will help you the most is the strategic part.
What the Top 1% Do Differently
The Top 1% focus more on strategy.
Once, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, was asked about Amazon’s strong quarterly results. His reply was simple. The results you are seeing today are the work we did three years ago. Right now, we are thinking about what will happen three years from now.
That is strategic thinking.
The Top 1% don’t live in today’s headlines. They live three years ahead.
Change Your Orbit
You don’t have to become a strategist overnight. Start small.
- Spend 15 minutes a day on content that helps you grow, not just content that keeps you informed.
- Once a month, ask yourself: where do I want to be three years from now?
- Follow people who talk about the future, not just the news.
GROWTH moves in ORBITS, like a satellite. And to change your orbit, gradually start thinking strategically, for the long term.
What are you feeding your mind today: operations, tactics, or strategy?
