The Queen Bee of Strategy: Collaboration, Discovery, and Perspective

If you're like me (and many of you are because 10 million people play it daily), you love 🐝 Spelling Bee by NYT Games 🐝 because it's a game of discovery. Seven letters, one center letter, and the challenge of finding as many words as possible, including the often elusive pangram that uses all seven letters.

What fascinates me is how differently people approach it.

Some start macro. They scan the letters, look for the patterns, and often spot the 'Pangram" (a word that uses all the letters) almost immediately. Big words, longer connections, and broader possibilities tend to emerge when your brain looks at the whole system from the start.

Others start micro. They pick off the easy 4-letter words, build up a base, and let the puzzle slowly reveal itself. Often, finding small words triggers recognition of new combinations that weren’t visible at first. The details stack into something larger.

This is exactly how strategy works.

Some leaders begin with macro. They define the big vision first, then chart the tactical path. Others build by stacking early wins and letting the broader plan emerge as new insights surface. Both approaches have value. The strongest strategists know when to shift between the two depending on the situation.

But there’s another layer.

No matter how good you are, there’s a limit to how far you can get on your own. In Spelling Bee, there comes a point where you’ve exhausted every pattern you can see. That’s when many of us start reaching for help. From hints, from friends, or from the online community of players who share clues and overlooked words. Sometimes it’s your significant other, sitting across from you, who spots the one word you’ve somehow missed for the past hour (and is very happy to let you know).

And this too is strategy.

Because real strategy shouldn't be a solo act. The most complex problems almost always require collaborative intelligence. You need fresh eyes, second opinions, and people who see the angles you don't. "The Queen Bee" level of the game when you find every possible word, is almost impossible to reach alone. So connecting with people at every level of the organization, interviewing stakeholders across the industry, and digging into what real people and customers are saying about you is critical to building a strong strategy.

Spelling Bee isn’t just a word game. It’s a daily practice in balancing macro and micro thinking, knowing when to call in others, and recognizing that sometimes your best move is simply asking, "What am I missing?" Strategy works the same way.

Curious to hear: how do you approach Spelling Bee and strategy? Personally, I try to find the Pangram before i dig into smaller words...?