Most people would of heard of the metaphor of the icebergs: Only 10% of the iceberg is above water. The rest of the iceberg is under the water and is not seen. This is the point that the lecturer is trying to get across. When looking at the facts of a particular situation to see how to plan a strategy it is important to look under the surface. A strategist needs to look at what is not immediately obvious.
I think (and I assume the lecturer does too) that many people fail at business because they don't look below the surface. For example, there would be many times where a person has had product selling well in a country. They think to themselves that another country has double or triple the population so their product will be very successful over there. Unfortunately when they try to sell their product overseas they end up losing their money. Why did they fail? They did not look under the surface.
Under the surface a strategist would of seen that there were differences between cultures that would stop people from wanting to buy the product. Maybe having that product is not "cool" or is embarrassing to talk about. Maybe there is a history of cargo going "missing".
The strategist may not be able to find what they are looking for just by reading books. Below the surface are things that people know but do not talk about or have not written down. The strategist may have to talk to people to find out the truth. Even then they might not get the whole truth.
So remember : Look under the surface! Even if it is just going past the first page of results in Google.
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