Good Strategy Bad Strategy Quotes by Richard P. Rumelt

“All too much of what is put forward as strategy is not. The basic problem is confusion between strategy and strategic goals.”

The kernel of a strategy contains three elements: A diagnosis that defines or explains the nature of the challenge. A good diagnosis simplifies the often overwhelming complexity of reality by identifying certain aspects of the situation as critical.

But the essential difficulty in creating strategy is not logical; it is choice itself.

Many people call the guiding policy “the strategy” and stop there. This is a mistake. Strategy is about action, about doing something.

policy.” I have found that defining a strategy as just a broad guiding policy is a mistake. Without a diagnosis, one cannot evaluate alternative guiding policies. Without working through to at least the first round of action one cannot be sure that the guiding policy can be implemented. Good strategy is not just “what” you are trying to do. It is a

Good strategy and good organization lie in specializing on the right activities and imposing only the essential amount of coordination.