What is strategy? To far too many people, strategy is thought of as "how can we succeed doing what we’ve always done." To be honest, most of what is written on strategy, going back to the seminal work by Michael Porter "Competitive Strategy", deals with how to identify a strategy and then execute it. What strategy must be is developing an approach to win in a competitive marketplace.
On New Year’s Day, 2007 I observed one of the best uses of strategy I’ve seen in a long time. Little known Boise State University went into the Fiesta Bowl to compete with Oklahoma University. This was truly a David and Goliath match-up. Oklahoma has been a top 10 powerhouse in football for decades. Its annual funding for the football program is 10x the entire athletic department at Boise State. Why, Boise State wasn’t even qualified to be considered as a top-ranked football team because they weren’t considered a BCS team (BCS is the acronym for the people who determine the bowl games and how they will determine the national college football champion.) Nonetheless, Boise State was in the game and they were projected to be killed by the much better funded, more experienced and far larger Oklahoma football program.
But, Boise State did something no one predicted. They did not enter the stadium and play a traditional game. From the opening salvo, Boise State was executing plays not expected by Oklahoma. Within the first 5 minutes they had used unexpected play calling to jump into a 14 point lead. And Oklahoma was scratching its head. The game played on, and Oklahoma slowly scratched and clawed back. With just over a minute left in the game, Oklahoma finally went into the lead. But, Boise State did more than not give up. They came back with a series of unexpected plays. On what was destined to be the final play of the game, and needing to go a third of the field for a touchdown, Boise State executed a play from the 1930s – something never seen on the modern football field any more – the "hook and ladder" play. They scored, and tied the game. In overtime, Oklahoma jumped into the lead. But Boise State came back, once again with unexpected plays. On the final play, needing to score or lose, Boise State again used a play almost never seen any more – the Statue of Liberty play – and they won the game as the Boise State player walked all alone into the end zone.
After the game the announcers kept commenting on how Boise State kept Oklahoma off kilter. "They used every play in the playbook" an announcer said – by the way, that announcer was Barry Switzer who used to be the head coach at Oklahoma and had won a national championship. What was even more telling was how the announcers reacted. When asked who should be the "most valuable player" the agreement was they wanted to select THE COACH! By using plays that his competition did not expect, he managed to beat a team that was far better funded, with lots more resources and a lot more coaches.
Strategy mattered. Boise State did not play the game that the entrenched and better funded competitor wanted to play. They avoided the Lock-in, which was sure to beat Boise State. Instead, the coach kept Challenging the large competitor, and Oklahoma could not react. The much larger competitor had not ignored their smaller competitor, but they were not prepared for the use of an unexpected strategy. In the end, the team that pushed competition into White Space won by demonstrating a different Success Formula than what the traditional, entrenched competitor was prepared for.
We all can learn from Boise State and their upending of Oklahoma. As individuals, work teams and businesses we can recognize that those who develop strategies which change the competitive field have a distinct advantage. If we can overcome our Lock-in to traditional practices, and try new things that are unexpected, we can come out on top even if our competition is much larger, better funded and loaded with advantages we don’t have. Whenever you need reassurance of the value of innovating to change the competitive field, just remember the coaches at Boise State.