Strategy That Works: 13 Commandments of Effective Strategic Thinking
Battle-tested ideas to cut through strategic confusion
Great strategists are people who once saw the world differently. In this post, I’ll tell you what they see – and you’ll be able to see it, too.
Strategy isn’t about seeing what others see but thinking differently. It’s about seeing what they miss.
“What the f…k is strategy?”
One sunny summer Sunday in 2010, I sat in my kitchen, drinking scalding coffee and reading a thick red book. It was Thompson and Strickland’s textbook Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases.
It was a great book – interesting to read, with many examples. The only thing driving me nuts was that it didn't answer a simple question: what the f…k is strategy? Not long before, I had become CEO of a retail company, so what exactly should I do to craft a strategy for my business? I didn’t find the answer in this 600-page doorstop.
I later found out that I wasn’t the only one. Other CEOs admitted they knew they should think strategically — and that their businesses suffered because they didn’t. Bu…