The thing about smart people is that they tend to think that if they think really hard about something, they might figure it out, when the truth is, in strategy (and life in general), there is never one right answer. Strategy requires making choices about a future that is not yet known. I’m one of those people that tends to over-intellectualize thi... See more

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

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It’s my favorite strategy book because it was so easy to put into practice, and because I recognized so many of the characteristics of bad strategy. Here are a few:

• Mistaking Goals for Strategy : A classic. “Our strategy is to grow revenue by 50% while improving gross margins by 200 bps.” Cool cool... how though?


• Fluff : Using buzzwords and jargon

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