The truth is that gnarly challenges are not “solved” with just analysis or by applying preset frameworks. Rather, a coherent strategic response arises through a process of diagnosing the structure of challenges, framing, reframing, chunking down the scope of attention, reference to analogies, and insight. The result is a design rather than a choice
... See moreRichard P. Rumelt • The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists
In strategy work, knowledge is necessary but not sufficient. There are many people with deep knowledge or experience who are poor at strategy. To guide your own thinking in strategy work, you must cultivate three essential skills or habits. First, you must have a variety of tools for fighting your own myopia and for guiding your own attention. Seco
... See moreRichard Rumelt • Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The difference and why it matters
Carl Lang was attempting to deduce a strategy from strategy “frameworks” such as Porter’s “Five Forces” or Kim and Mauborgne’s “Blue Ocean Strategy Canvas.” But such frameworks are designed to call attention to what might be important in a situation. They do not, indeed cannot, guide one to specific actions. Others try to deduce strategies from des
... See moreRichard P. Rumelt • The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists
Therefore, decision making is not a choice between right and wrong. In 20/20 hindsight, decisions might be good or bad but not right or wrong.
Brendan Moynihan • What I Learned Losing A Million Dollars
Know What You Can’t Know. In most day-to-day decisions, cause and effect are pretty clear. If you do X, Y will happen. But in decisions that involve systems with many interacting parts, causal links are frequently unclear.