Profit isn’t the goal — it’s a tool. The goal is resilience.

Special edition of the Strategic Seeing newsletter.

Two fundamental business laws — and they contradict each other.

No, this isn’t the start of a twice-a-week schedule — this is a one-time special issue.

My path to this book began 20 years ago, in 2005 when I was promoted to CEO of a private company where I’d already spent seven years.

I asked the shareholders what they wanted. They both shrugged: “More profit.”

Profit is a sacred cow in business. A board can boot a CEO if the numbers are in the red.

This is the fundamental business law.

However, there's another law: a business must grow and endure.

And these laws contradict each other.

Profit is about preservation, control, and efficiency.

It’s tied to the idea of getting the most out of your resources.

But maximum return on resources happens where change is minimal.

A mechanism that “runs like clockwork” can be incredibly efficient — but only as long as it doesn’t have to change.

Development, on the other hand, means breaking things, shifting gears, rethinking.

That’s why Amazon ran at a loss for its first 9 years.

Uber? 14.

Big companies often miss opportunities to innovate — they’re too focused on profit.

But what if we rethink the goal of business?

What if, instead of chasing quarterly profit, we focused on building a great company?

This approach resolves the contradiction — we now view profit as a result of development rather than a goal in itself.

These ideas first took shape as posts and later evolved into my book, Red and Yellow Strategies: Flip Your Strategic Thinking and Overcome Short-termism, published a year ago, in June 2024.

In it, I disagree with most of the “obvious truths” about business strategy:

– that a business exists to earn profits.

– that strategy is a means to an end.

– that strategy is a way to achieve goals

– that strategy is a game we must win

In the book, I show that strategic goals can do more harm than good, that war strategy has nothing to do with business strategy, and that the true purpose of any business is to meet the needs of six stakeholder groups — with profit being merely a consequence of that ability.

To mark the anniversary of the book’s release, I’m offering you a special price.

You can get the e-book here and the audiobook here. The special offer price is valid only until July 11.

But that’s not your only option — the book is also available on Amazon (in print or digital form) or at your favorite online bookstore.

And here’s the best part:

You can get the e-book or audiobook for free if you upgrade to a paid subscription to this newsletter.

Enjoy the read!

Sincerely yours,

Svyatoslav Biryulin