Jackee Batanda
Last week, during the Alibaba AInnovator Masterclass 2026, Chandee Zhuang, Senior Advisor at Alibaba Commerce Group, emphasised something that stayed with me: as we navigate the AI age, we cannot afford to lose strategy.
In business, especially as founders, we are often pulled into the short term. We chase trends. We respond to price pressure. We fight for visibility. We push for one more sale, one more customer, one more improvement in efficiency. We tell ourselves we have to move faster and do more. And over time, that constant short-term battle becomes one of the fastest roads to burnout.
Strategy, however, asks something different of us. It asks us to lift our heads, look beyond the noise and build not just for survival, but for significance.
Short-term strategy helps us compete in the now. A long-term strategy helps us become harder to replace in the future.
Long-term strategy is where real business advantage is built: differentiation, adaptability, lifetime value, stronger positioning, and the ability to see further than the next trend cycle. AI can support many things, but it cannot replace the human work of vision. It cannot decide who you are building for over the next 10 years, what kind of company you want to become, or what values will anchor you as you grow.
What I appreciated most from the session was the strategy framework shared, because it simplified something that can often feel complex. Strategy is not only about reacting to the market in front of us. It is about developing the perspective to look at the present from the future. To ask not only, “What is happening now?” but also, “What problems will matter three, five, even ten years from now?
At its core, strategy always brings us back to customer value. Not noise. Not hype. Not performative innovation. Real value. Solving real problems for real people in ways that matter.
Earlier this year, when I sat down to rework SuccessSpark Brand Ltd’s 10-year strategy, I had to wrestle with these questions honestly. I am building again after a three-year hiatus, following deep personal loss and a season that changed me. This process has not just been about business planning. It has been about clarity, rebuilding with intention and deciding what this next chapter should truly stand for.
Small businesses do not need to panic their way into AI. We need to think our way into the future. We do not need to adopt every tool. We need to understand what kind of business we are building, what value only we can offer, and how to stay adaptable as the world changes around us. AI may shape the landscape. Strategy will still shape the business.
That is the work I am returning to in this season: building with more clarity, choosing with more intention, and creating from a future I can already begin to see.
For fellow founders navigating the noise: how are you thinking about long-term strategy in the middle of so much AI pressure?
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Strategic Partnerships Architect | Author | Book Writing Mentor Executive Story Consultant | Editor
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