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I recently ran my first marathon and it was a humbling experience in the difference between strategy and tactics.

A Strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.  The word strategy has military connotations, because it derives from the Greek word strategos which means General.

A Tactic is a body of systematic techniques used by a particular discipline, derived from the Greek word Taktika which means the art of deploying forces in war.

In preparation for the race, I studied a great deal on running methods and adopted a style of running known as Chi Running.  This style works on a number of areas; stride, body position, arm and leg movement, and breathing.  I worked very hard on assimilating the tactics of Chi Running and had the tactics for the race down pat.

My strategy for the race was to finish the race.

Everything went fine until mile 21 when I had a horrific hamstring cramp.  Oops , I had no strategy for that and the tactics went out the window.  I had not planned for that as my only goal was to finish.

Interestingly enough, I have been to meetings that were strong on tactics and thin on strategy.  The hotel was first class, the meeting space was great, the food fantastic, the break out rooms were set to perfection, but at the end of the meeting I left wondering if the strategy was just to have a meeting. 

Have you had this same experience?