---
id: "concept-strategic-centering"
type: "concept"
source_timestamps: ["§ Strategy Amid Radical Uncertainty"]
tags: ["strategy", "uncertainty", "value-creation"]
related: ["concept-the-stuff-economy", "entity-rita-mcgrath", "framework-strategic-centers", "quote-strategic-center-importance"]
definition: "Deliberately choosing an organizing principle that provides clarity and coherence to a company's strategy when traditional anchors lose their power."
sources: ["tail1"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail1"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tail-106-decision-frameworks-fail"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/gg-why-decision-making-frameworks-fail"
sourceTitle: "Why Decision-Making Frameworks Fail"
---
# Strategic Centering

Strategic centering — a concept introduced by Columbia Business School's [[entity-rita-mcgrath]] — is the **deliberate choice of an organizing principle** that provides clarity and coherence to a company's strategy. It becomes necessary precisely when traditional strategic anchors lose their power: defensible market positions, stable industries, and long-lived physical assets (the hallmarks of [[concept-the-stuff-economy]]).

McGrath argues that **choosing a center is currently the most important strategic decision a leader can make** (see [[quote-strategic-center-importance]]), because it anchors the organization as value creation shifts toward digital services, coordinated ecosystems, intangible assets, and experiences.

The five concrete organizing principles a leader can center on are enumerated in [[framework-strategic-centers]] — mission, customer, technology, national ecosystem, or friction erasure.

> **Counter-perspective:** For conglomerates, platform businesses, or heavily regulated firms, a single "center" may oversimplify reality — multiple centers or a portfolio logic can sometimes better match the operating model. See [[contrarian-purpose-backfires]] and the primer's counter-perspectives section for the broader pattern that these prescriptions are situational, not universal.


## Related across articles
- [[framework-4s]]
- [[concept-commitment-paradox]]