Strategy, Rediscovered? — Martin Weigel

Strategic thinking, in its purest form, is the process of considering “what could be true.” Strategy is the art of the possible. What new mental model would have to be invented for this to work? What if people moved from the way it is, to a new, different way? What if a new outcome (an outcome we haven’t considered before) was possible?

A great deal of strategy work is trying to figure out what is going on. Not just deciding what to do, but the more fundamental problem of comprehending the situation.

I asked Paul to stop thinking of “creating real differentiation” and “developing new capabilities” as being strategies. “They are,” I said, “more accurately described as being ambitions, intentions, or aspirations. However wise they may be, there is no bite to them. You need to take each and break off a smaller ‘chunk’ that can be tackled and overc

Good strategy is not just “what” you are trying to do. It is also “why” and “how” you are doing it. A good guiding policy tackles the obstacles identified in the diagnosis by creating or drawing upon sources of advantage. Indeed, the heart of the matter in strategy is usually advantage. Just as a lever uses mechanical advantage to multiply force, s