Goal: What change are you seeking to make? Who do you want your customers to become? What will you be able to look at, or count that will tell you you’ve succeeded?

Strategy: What will be the observable pattern in your behavior that informs us of your thinking, or beliefs that will bring about the change you seek to make?

Objectives: What are the actions you will take that will bring the strategy to life, what work will you do to make the change happen?

Seth Godin gives this example: Our goal is to change good donors to our cause into really generous donors. Our strategy is to establish a standard for big gifts, to make it something that our good donors aspire to because it feels normal for someone like them. And today’s tactic is hosting an industry dinner that will pair some of our best donors with those that might be open to moving up.

Objectives alone lure us into a trap of feeling like we’re doing work that matters, because the keep us busy. But an objective by itself is just busy work. But if an objective supports a strategy, a longer-term plan that builds on itself and generates leverage, that’s far more powerful. But a strategy without a goal is like a ship without a compass, adrift in an endless sea of possibilities.

So the formula is G+S+O=C where G=Goal, S=Strategy, O=Objective(s), and C=Change