The word “strategic” is among the most abused terms in business language – after all, who isn’t trying to be strategic? Do you have department of un-strategic management?

Being strategic means different things to different people, but when it comes right down to it, it’s finding the thing about you that is unique, and then selling it unique thing to a client who wants it and can’t get it anywhere else.

That insight comes from Mara Lederman, an associate professor of Strategic Management at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School, and an instructor in the CCCA’s business leadership program for in-house counsel.