You've been asked to present to the senior executive strategy committee

She is good with numbers, thinks long term and works well with people, so ...

At this moment though, favoring the brazen salesperson or the gray haired constrain might be premature. There is a rumor that she will be asked to take on more leadership responsibility.

Which of these thoughts should she verbalize, so she can get her crew out of Starbucks and back to work?

“My friends, when I think about a strategy's value, I focus on”:

• what is the benefit to the customer?
• how are we going to pay for it?
• is the timing right? Our competitor's response?
• what is the bottom line to our firm?
• who is going to do this, are they able to do it?
• who do I have to convince your approach is best?
• why doesn't this Starbucks have a bathroom?
• why do I care about the discount rate?

We'll return to the story in a few pages; first some basics and language.