Sublime

It is the hard craft of strategy to decide which priority shall take precedence.

We talked about results not only for the operation’s sake but to tell the story of how a given action had enhanced or harmed relationships across the organization, or deepened credibility with key stakeholders. We were asked hard questions by our leadership not so they could demonstrate power but so they could give us room to be honest and vulnerab

As a theme of this book is the growing importance of stories as a means of thinking about and communicating strategies,

Good strategy works by focusing energy and resources on one, or a very few, pivotal objectives whose accomplishment will lead to a cascade of favorable outcomes.

«We shall be unable to turn natural advantage to account unless we make use of local guides.» Sun Tzu

The leader who turned the culture into a system was Helmuth von Moltke the elder, who fostered high levels of autonomy and worked out how to simultaneously achieve high alignment.

Overstretch—the enfeeblement that comes with confusing ends and means—allows enemies to apply leverage: small maneuvers that have big consequences. Themistocles wouldn’t have won at Salamis without spinning a Delphic oracle. Elizabeth trusted her admirals to trust the winds. And Kutuzov could safely slumber after Borodino, certain that geography, t

in executing on their most important goals day in and day out.

“Right now, whoever argues the best in our quarterly meetings can change the strategy.”