The Strategy Trilemma

I was chatting with a head teacher last week who’d just implemented their fourth ‘innovative’ teaching approach this year. “We’re trying to excel at everything,” she admitted, looking rather frazzled. “Outstanding pastoral care, cutting-edge technology, traditional academic rigour, and inclusive practices for every possible need.” I couldn’t help but think of Michael Porter shaking his head somewhere, probably muttering about being “stuck in the middle.”

It’s been over four decades since Porter first laid out his Generic Strategies framework, yet I’m constantly amazed by how many of us - whether we’re running schools, building careers, or developing our personal brands - still haven’t grasped its fundamental insight: you can’t win by trying to be brilliant at everything. It’s like trying to be simultaneously the tortoise and the hare in Aesop’s fable - you’ll likely end up being neither particularly fast nor particularly steady.

But I find it fascinating that whilst Porter’s framework was designed for businesses, its core logic applies everywhere. Whether you’re a teacher developing your classroom approach, a consultant building your practice, a startup founder seeking market position, or a healthcare professional carving out your niche, the fundamental question remains the same: what’s your distinctive approach to creating value?

I’m going to dissect Porter’s Generic Strategies, not as some dusty business school theory, but as a living framework that shapes how successful people and organisations think about competitive advantage. We’ll explore why these strategic choices matter across sectors, from education to healthcare to creative industries, and how they apply whether you’re leading a team or developing your individual career.

This isn’t about applying rigid corporate thinking everywhere. It’s about understanding the strategic choices that separate thriving individuals and institutions from those perpetually stuck in the middle, wondering why their perfectly reasonable approaches aren’t delivering perfectly reasonable results.

We can think about it across different contexts. Every professional faces this dilemma. You could try to be the efficient delivery expert, the innovative creative, and the specialist problem solver all at once. But Porter’s framework suggests you’ll likely be more effective - and more fulfilled - by excelling in one area whilst maintaining competence in others. 

Now, those of you who have been reading FRiDEAS for a while will know that I talk a lot about generalists and specialists - and how much I struggle with the call to ‘niche down’. The key to this piece isn’t to contradict myself but to offer another perspective on the idea of strategic advantage. It’s about focus but also ensuring skill in other areas.

Check out another piece I wrote about this very thing, The Power of No.

I want to be clear about what I see Porter was really saying though. Cost Leadership isn’t just about being cheap - it’s about being the most efficient provider whilst maintaining acceptable quality. In healthcare, this might be the GP practice that delivers excellent care through streamlined, systematic approaches rather than elaborate consultations. In creative work, it’s the designer who produces outstanding results efficiently using templates rather than through endless iterations.

Differentiation isn’t about being different for the sake of it - it’s about creating unique value that people genuinely appreciate and willingly pay for. Think of the consultant whose approach everyone remembers years later, not because it was flashy, but because it genuinely solved problems others couldn’t tackle.

Focus isn’t about being narrow - it’s about serving a specific group or solving particular problems exceptionally well. The accountant who becomes the go-to expert for creative industry taxation. The therapist who specialises in supporting healthcare workers. The trainer who focuses exclusively on leadership development for technical professionals.

The psychological insight here is profound. Porter understood something that cognitive scientist Herbert Simon would recognise as the challenge of “satisficing” - our tendency to seek solutions that are good enough rather than optimal. Most of us, when faced with choices about how to develop professionally, naturally gravitate towards compromised positions that feel safer but ultimately prove less effective.

“The focus is upon ways of simplifying the choice problem to bring it within the power of human computation... The key to the simplification of the choice process in both cases is the replacement of the goal of maximizing with the goal of satisficing, of finding a course of action that is 'good enough'.” Herbert Simon

Cost Leadership: The Excellence of Efficiency

Cost leadership often gets misunderstood, dismissed as a strategy for those lacking imagination or ambition. This completely misses the point. True cost leadership requires extraordinary discipline, relentless improvement, and often, considerable courage to do things differently.

One example is when Aldi entered the UK market in the 1990s. Established players initially dismissed them as a low-quality discounter. What they failed to recognise was Aldi’s sophisticated approach to cost leadership. This wasn’t about cutting corners - it was about reimagining the entire retail model through deliberately limited choice, streamlined operations, and systematic efficiency.

This aligns with something I read from psychologist Barry Schwartz when he identified it as the “paradox of choice” - sometimes less choice leads to greater customer satisfaction. Aldi understood this intuitively, setting clear expectations about their offering whilst delivering genuine value through quality products at significantly lower prices.

In professional services, cost leadership might mean the accountant who delivers excellent compliance work efficiently through standardised processes, allowing them to offer competitive fees whilst maintaining quality. It’s the marketing consultant who uses proven frameworks and templates to deliver reliable results quickly. The therapist who employs evidence-based protocols that consistently help clients make progress.

In healthcare, we see cost leadership in the successful urgent care centres that handle routine problems efficiently, freeing up A&E departments for genuine emergencies. Or the physiotherapy practices that achieve excellent outcomes through systematic assessment and treatment protocols rather than lengthy exploratory sessions.

For individual professionals, cost leadership thinking means becoming exceptionally efficient at delivering value. The project manager who can coordinate complex initiatives smoothly. The trainer who delivers consistently excellent workshops through refined content and processes. The consultant whose systematic approach reliably solves client problems.

This isn’t about working longer hours - it’s about working smarter. It requires developing systems, honing core skills, and eliminating inefficiencies that others tolerate. The graphic designer whose clients get consistently strong branding in half the time others take. The coach whose structured approach helps clients achieve breakthrough insights efficiently.

But cost leadership carries risks. As Porter warned, you’re vulnerable if others match your efficiency whilst offering additional benefits. The ultra-organised consultant who loses ground to someone equally systematic but more innovative. The streamlined service provider that gets overtaken by one that’s just as efficient but offers something special.

Efficiency alone isn’t enough - it needs to deliver genuine value. Cost leadership succeeds when your efficient approach actually produces better outcomes, not just neater processes.

Differentiation: The Art of Being Unmistakably You

Differentiation is perhaps the most seductive of Porter’s strategies, particularly for creative professionals and those who entered their fields to make a unique difference. But true differentiation is much harder than it looks. It’s not about being quirky or having a gimmick - it’s about creating genuine value that others can’t easily replicate.

Often, the professionals who genuinely differentiate themselves don’t do it through elaborate presentations or expensive tools, but through distinctive approaches that solve problems in unique ways. The architect whose buildings seamlessly blend sustainability with stunning design. The business consultant whose workshops combine rigorous analysis with transformative group dynamics. The personal trainer whose holistic approach addresses not just physical fitness but lifestyle factors.

What makes these approaches truly differentiating isn’t just that they’re different - it’s that they create value others struggle to match. Porter would recognise this as “sustainable competitive advantage” - approaches that are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and hard to substitute.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s work on ‘flow’ again provides insight into why some differentiation strategies succeed whilst others fail. (I do love his work and one day will learn to pronounce his name!) Effective differentiation often creates experiences that fully engage clients or beneficiaries - challenging enough to be interesting, achievable enough to build confidence, and personally meaningful enough to maintain motivation.

It makes me think of companies like Patagonia (I talk about their founder, Yvon Chouinard, in my book) whose differentiation isn’t just about outdoor gear but about environmental activism integrated into everything they do. Or Innocent Drinks, whose playful brand personality genuinely reflects their founders’ values and connects with consumers seeking authentic alternatives.

For service professionals, differentiation might mean the therapist whose integration of mindfulness with cognitive behavioural therapy creates uniquely powerful interventions. The business coach whose background in neuroscience brings fresh insights to leadership development. The accountant whose community engagement process transforms how businesses reinvest their CSR budgets and serve their users.

In your personal development, differentiation means identifying what you do that others don’t, can’t, or won’t do. It might be your ability to translate complex technical concepts for the common uninitiated person, your knack for building trust with resistant clients, or your talent for seeing patterns others miss. But differentiation has its dangers. Porter identified the risk of “over-differentiating” - adding features or approaches that don’t actually create value for your audience. It’s the one man band concern where people pile so many features/patches/updates onto something that it ends up falling apart. (I’m not talking about Microsoft products guys!)

There’s also what economist Fred Hirsch called the “positional good” problem - some forms of differentiation only work if others don’t copy them. If every consultant claims to be “innovative,” or every designer promises to be “cutting-edge,” the differentiation disappears.

The most sustainable differentiation often comes from aligning your natural strengths with genuine needs. The introverted consultant who excels at one-on-one coaching rather than trying to be a charismatic keynote speaker. The analytical lawyer who transforms practices through systematic process improvement rather than courtroom theatrics.

Focus: The Power of Saying No

And thus it comes around again to that two-letter word. Focus is perhaps the most undervalued of Porter’s strategies, especially in a culture that constantly encourages us to diversify our skills and serve broader markets. Yet focus can be extraordinarily powerful when applied thoughtfully.

Porter distinguished between two types of focus: cost focus (being the most efficient provider to a specific segment) and differentiation focus (offering unique value to a particular group). Both require the courage to say no to opportunities that don’t fit.

In consulting, focus might mean becoming the specialist that particular types of organisations gravitate towards. The educational consultant who works exclusively with alternative provision. The marketing advisor who focuses on B2B technology companies. The leadership coach who specialises in supporting first-time managers in creative industries.

This isn’t about exclusion - it’s about recognition that by serving some clients exceptionally well, you often achieve better overall outcomes than trying to be moderately good for everyone.

In healthcare, focus strategies can be equally powerful. The physiotherapy practice that specialises in sports injuries. The counselling service that focuses exclusively on adolescent mental health. The dental practice that becomes the regional centre for complex orthodontic cases.

Michelin-starred restaurants represent fascinating examples of focus strategy in action. Rather than trying to serve every possible taste or budget, they’ve chosen to excel within very specific parameters. Their focused approach has delivered not just commercial success but industry recognition and customer loyalty. And they don’t allow you to “change the pea veloute for gravy”!

For individuals, focus strategies might involve becoming the go-to person for specific challenges or opportunities. The accountant who becomes the expert in supporting social enterprises. The trainer who specialises in neurodiversity awareness for corporate clients. The designer who focuses exclusively on sustainable packaging solutions.

The psychological challenge of focus lies in what psychologist Barry Schwartz identified as “loss aversion” - our tendency to overweigh the costs of giving up options relative to the benefits of choosing. Focus requires accepting that you can’t serve everyone perfectly, support every initiative, or develop expertise in every area.

But focus also offers profound advantages. It allows you to develop deep expertise, build a strong reputation, and often achieve disproportionate impact. 

The Perils of Being Stuck in the Middle

Porter’s most important insight might be his warning about being “stuck in the middle” - pursuing multiple strategies simultaneously without excelling at any. This is where many of us find ourselves, professionally and personally, and it’s more dangerous than we often realise.

“A firm stuck in the middle is in an extremely poor strategic situation.” Michael Porter

The stuck-in-the-middle consultant tries to be efficient, distinctive, and specialised all at once. They attempt systematic approaches, innovative methods, and expertise in multiple areas, often achieving mediocrity in all. The result isn’t just poor performance - it’s professional frustration and client confusion about what they actually stand for.

Small businesses get stuck in the middle frequently. The restaurant that tries to be both fast and gourmet, both affordable and premium. The design agency that promises efficiency, creativity, and specialisation across every possible sector. The training company that claims expertise in leadership, technical skills, and personal development for any industry.

As we mentioned about satisficing, when faced with complex choices, we naturally seek solutions that meet multiple criteria adequately rather than excelling in specific areas. It feels safer, more inclusive, more reasonable.

But Porter’s insight is that this reasonableness often leads to strategic failure. When we try to become “all things to all men”, we end up winning none. 

The personal cost of being stuck in the middle extends beyond professional effectiveness. It can lead to identity confusion, imposter syndrome, and chronic stress from trying to maintain incompatible approaches simultaneously. If we can never quite decide whether we’re the budget option or the premium provider, it usually leads to struggles with both pricing and positioning from my work in coaching clients around marketing. 

Individual professionals face this constantly. The lawyer who tries to be both the detail-oriented technical expert and the big-picture strategic advisor. The doctor who attempts to be simultaneously the efficient diagnostician and the holistic healer. The designer who wants to be known for both systematic branding and artistic innovation.

Yet escaping the middle requires courage. It means accepting that some people won’t appreciate your chosen approach. If you focus on systematic improvement, you might be criticised for lacking creativity. If you prioritise innovation, you might be accused of being impractical or not respecting the past. Oh, and if you’re in education, this tension between innovation and compliance seems to increase tenfold!

Strategic Choice in Personal Development

Porter’s framework applies powerfully to individual career development too, though we rarely think about it explicitly. Most of us make strategic choices about how we position ourselves professionally, even if we don’t frame them as such.

The cost leadership approach in personal development means becoming exceptionally efficient at delivering value. Becoming the person who can coordinate complex initiatives better than anyone else, or who can handle difficult clients effectively and quickly. Learning to implement change programmes systematically and successfully - and more so than anyone else around you. 

Again, this isn’t about working longer hours - it’s about working smarter. It requires developing systems, honing core skills, and eliminating inefficiencies that others tolerate. Find a creative process that consistently produces strong results efficiently or a structured approach that reliably helps clients achieve breakthroughs.

Differentiation in personal development means identifying and developing what makes you uniquely valuable. This might be your ability to translate between technical and commercial perspectives, your talent for building trust with difficult team members, or your skill at seeing out-of-the-box solutions to complex problems.

Focus in personal development often means specialising in serving particular clients or solving specific problems exceptionally well. The HR consultant who becomes the expert in supporting tech startups through rapid growth. The therapist who develops deep expertise in helping care workers manage burnout. The trainer who specialises in leadership development for engineering teams.

But personal strategic choices come with trade-offs. The professional who focuses on systematic efficiency might have fewer opportunities to develop creative skills. The individual who specialises might miss out on broader experience. The person who becomes highly efficient might sacrifice some innovation.

The psychological challenge lies in accepting these trade-offs whilst others seem to be developing in all directions simultaneously. Social media compounds this problem by showcasing colleagues who appear to excel at everything. Yet Porter’s framework suggests that strategic clarity in personal development often leads to greater success and satisfaction than trying to be competent at everything. 

Organisational Identity and Strategic Clarity

The deepest insight from Porter’s work isn’t really about competitive advantage - it’s about identity. Organisations, like individuals, need to know who they are and what they stand for. Strategic choice isn’t just about efficiency or effectiveness; it’s about authenticity and coherence.

It’s about the “look harder” mantra from The Lion King all over again. 

This connects to Viktor Frankl’s work on meaning and purpose. Frankl argued that the most resilient individuals and organisations are those with clear purposes that transcend immediate circumstances. Porter’s strategic framework provides a way of translating purpose into actionable choices about how to create value.

“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.” Viktor Frankl

Companies with clear strategic identity often outperform those with muddled positioning, even when the latter have superior resources. This clarity doesn’t emerge automatically - it requires making choices based on deeper values rather than immediate preferences. It means asking not just “what works?” but “what works for us, given who we are and who we serve?”

The challenge for leaders across sectors is that stakeholder expectations often pull in multiple directions. Clients want both innovation and reliability. Funders expect both efficiency and impact. Regulators demand both compliance and creativity. Strategic clarity requires making choices about which expectations to prioritise whilst maintaining acceptable performance in other areas.

For individuals, strategic identity means understanding not just what you’re good at, but what energises you and creates meaning in your work. 

But identity-based strategic choices require ongoing commitment. It’s not enough to decide once - you need to keep choosing your strategic path when alternative opportunities arise, when others criticise your approach, or when your chosen strategy faces temporary setbacks.

The Evolution and Critique of Porter’s Framework

Forty-odd years after Porter first articulated his Generic Strategies, it’s worth acknowledging both the framework’s enduring insights and its limitations. Critics argue that modern contexts - from digital platforms to ecosystem thinking - have made Porter’s binary choices obsolete.

Some of these critiques have merit. The rise of platform businesses has enabled some organisations to achieve both cost leadership and differentiation simultaneously. Amazon exemplifies this - achieving cost leadership through operational efficiency whilst differentiating through customer experience and innovation.

Similar blending occurs across sectors. The most successful consultancies often combine cost leadership (through efficient delivery methods and shared resources) with differentiation (through distinctive approaches or specialist expertise). Individual professionals increasingly need both efficiency and uniqueness to thrive in competitive markets. Recent research in behavioural psychology supports Porter’s emphasis on strategic discipline. Studies of choice overload and decision fatigue suggest that organisations and individuals perform better when they limit their strategic options rather than trying to optimise across multiple dimensions simultaneously.

This doesn’t mean Porter’s specific categories are eternal truths. It means the underlying challenge - choosing how to create distinctive value whilst saying no to attractive alternatives - remains as relevant as ever.

And Porter’s strategic framework faces new challenges from technological change, globalisation, and evolving stakeholder expectations. Yet these changes often reinforce rather than undermine the importance of strategic clarity.

The impact of artificial intelligence is providing us with big choices. As AI handles more routine tasks, human professionals increasingly need to focus on what they do uniquely well. This might mean specialising in the relational aspects of client service, focusing on creativity and strategic thinking, or developing expertise in human-AI collaboration.

The climate crisis presents similar strategic choices for organisations and individuals. Some will focus on cost leadership through environmental efficiency - reducing waste, energy consumption, and resource use whilst maintaining quality. Others will differentiate through sustainability innovation - pioneering new approaches to carbon-neutral operations or circular economy principles.

Yet technological and social changes also create new forms of the ‘stuck in the middle’ problem. If you try to be simultaneously high-tech and traditional, globally connected and locally rooted, analytically rigorous and intuitively creative, this might be the outcome. 

The key insight from Porter’s work is that strategic choice becomes more, not less, important as options multiply. The organisations and individuals who thrive won’t be those who adopt every innovation or serve every possible need - they’ll be those who make deliberate choices about where to focus their limited time, energy, and resources.

A Framework for this in Business

So how do we apply Porter’s insights practically, whether we’re developing our professional practice, leading an organisation, or building our careers? Here’s a framework for strategic thinking that translates Porter’s concepts into actionable approaches:

Start with honest self-assessment. What are you genuinely good at? Not what you think you should be good at, or what others expect, but what you actually do well consistently. This might be your ability to solve complex problems systematically, your talent for building relationships with difficult people, or your skill at creative innovation.

Understand your ‘market’ deeply. Who are you serving, and what do they genuinely need? This isn’t about assuming you know - it’s about observing, listening, and gathering evidence. Clients who struggle with implementation might benefit from cost leadership (clear, systematic delivery) or differentiation (innovative approaches) or focus (specialised expertise).

Identify the gaps. Where are current approaches falling short? What needs aren’t being met effectively? These gaps often reveal opportunities for strategic positioning. The sector where no one’s really supporting small organisations effectively. The market where efficient delivery would transform client experiences. The niche crying out for innovative solutions.

Choose your strategic direction. Based on your strengths, market understanding, and identified gaps, where can you create the most value? This requires saying no to alternatives that might be attractive but don’t align with your chosen approach. 

Design your approach systematically. How will you deliver on your chosen strategy? What systems, skills, and resources do you need? Cost leadership requires different capabilities from differentiation, which requires different approaches from focus. Be specific about what success looks like and how you’ll achieve it.

Communicate your positioning clearly. Others need to understand what you stand for and why they should value your approach. This isn’t just about marketing - it’s about clarity. Clients, colleagues, and stakeholders should know what to expect from you and why your approach serves their needs.

Monitor and adapt whilst maintaining direction. Strategic choice doesn’t mean strategic rigidity. You need to adjust your methods whilst maintaining your core positioning. The differentiated organisation evolves their innovative practices whilst maintaining their distinctive character.

Key Takeaways: Strategic Clarity for Success

Porter’s Generic Strategies framework offers more than just business theory - it provides a lens for thinking about how we create value and develop competitive advantage in any context. Whether you’re a service professional, organisational leader, creative freelancer, or educationalist, the fundamental insights apply:

1. Strategic clarity beats strategic perfection. It’s probably better to excel in one area whilst maintaining competence in others than to be moderately good at everything. Do you remember when we talked about the full “Jack of all trades” quote? Add link to that article

2. Saying no is as important as saying yes. Every choice to focus on one approach means choosing not to pursue others. The efficient business owner or educator who doesn’t chase every innovative trend. The differentiated service that doesn’t try to be the cheapest option. The specialist who doesn’t attempt to be a generalist.

‍3. Authenticity enhances strategy. The most sustainable strategic positions align with genuine strengths and values rather than copied approaches. Your cost leadership should reflect your natural systematicity. Your differentiation should build on what genuinely energises you. Your focus should serve people and markets you understand deeply.

4. Context determines optimal strategy. There’s no universally “best” strategic approach - effectiveness depends on who you serve and what they need. The systematic approach that works in one sector might fail in another. The innovative methods that engage some clients might confuse others.

5. Strategic discipline requires ongoing commitment. Maintaining strategic clarity is harder than achieving it initially. You’ll face constant pressure to compromise, diversify, or copy others’ approaches. Strategic success requires the discipline to keep choosing your path even when alternatives seem attractive.

Whether you’re planning your next career move, developing your service offering, or leading organisational change, Porter’s framework reminds us that strategic thinking isn’t just for CEOs - it’s for anyone who wants to create distinctive value in their chosen field. The question isn’t whether you have a strategy - it’s whether you’re conscious about the strategic choices you’re making and committed to making them work.

In a world full of options, the power to choose - and keep choosing - your distinctive path might be the most valuable skill of all.