Good Strategy Bad Strategy: 6 key ideas
The core ideas of Good Strategy Bad Strategy, each in under a minute, written in our own words. Want the full depth? Get the book.
- IDEA 1 OF 6
The kernel of strategy
Good strategy has three parts: a diagnosis of the challenge, a guiding policy for dealing with it, and coherent actions that carry the policy out.
- IDEA 2 OF 6
Bad strategy is fluff
Buzzwords, lofty goals and long lists of priorities aren't strategy.
If it doesn't name the obstacle, it isn't a plan.
- IDEA 3 OF 6
Find the crux
Identify the single most important problem that, once solved, unlocks progress.
Concentrate resources there.
- IDEA 4 OF 6
Leverage
Look for the point where focused effort produces outsized results, often by anticipating how others will act.
- IDEA 5 OF 6
Proximate objectives
Set near-term goals that are clearly achievable.
They turn a vague ambition into a problem people can actually solve.
- IDEA 6 OF 6
Strategy is choice
Saying yes to one direction means saying no to others.
Avoiding hard trade-offs produces bad strategy.
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