This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans (Create a Strategy to Elevate Your Career, Community & Life)

The Wildcard in Every Feedback Loop is the Delay We avoid putting a hand on a hot stove. That’s largely because the pain feedback comes almost instantly. On the other hand, hundreds of millions of people smoke cigarettes. The response from their lungs can take decades, and the delay in feedback means that people may, in short-term apparent self-int

The two most chosen jobs in the United States are truck driver and real estate broker. Both are part of very well-established systems, and technology and the law are turning those systems upside down. The first change agent for truck drivers is data—shippers now have far more knowledge of the supply chain and the conditions of transport. Add to thi

Instead, each person in the system imagines what actions are likely to lead to the most useful responses. Useful for them. Useful today.

The maintainer and the optimizer: People who work within organizations often fit into these two roles. The maintainer has a job to do and does it.

It might be helpful to imagine that we can choose a persona for our project and our work. Each is appropriate in some circumstances—the trap lies in wearing one of these hats and then hoping for the result that comes from a different one.

We have been indoctrinated to seek certainty, go back to normal, celebrate the end of change, seek the right answer and the peace of mind that comes with it. To find a useful blueprint—an effective strategy—we must seek out analogies. Understanding an analogy requires we understand the system that makes it relevant. Once we see the system, we can d

Build something that fills a square, and it becomes yours to defend.

First, we need to see the problem. We need to understand the systems, the constraints, and the desires of those we serve. We can become smarter about what assets we control and how we can invest in them and make them work better for us. Don’t focus on a situation, which is not a problem at all. A situation is a mismatch of constraints and goals. A

A useful business model has a few attributes: • It gets easier over time. Past success makes future success more likely. • It’s a welcome contribution to the lives and projects of the people who are paying (in time or money) for the work. • It’s resilient. When the world changes, the model adjusts and persists or even thrives.

Marketers build scaffolding. We create the conditions for people who want to go where we’re going to join us. We use tension and status and affiliation to help people get from where they are to where they seek to go. What’s the user experience like? What’s the story behind the story? And what will I tell the others? A brand isn’t a logo. It’s an in