Why successful founders give the worst advice
I’ve written before about the inherent limits of expertise, and how it is at that boundary that strategy takes over. What I’ve not written about however is the limits of strategy. The reason for that is pretty obvious of course, it’s hardly in my best interests. I’m here to sell you on strategic thinking, and the […]
Two cool concepts for intellectual humility
If there’s one thing all the world’s ancient wisdom traditions agree on – from the Bible to the Tao Te Ching – it is the power of intellectual humility. Meekly embracing the limitations of your understanding is, paradoxically, what grants true understanding. Surrendering your certainty takes you further than clinging on to it. This is […]
Can a person have a strategy like a business?
One of my favourite concepts is the difference between expertise and strategic ability: Expertise = knowing things Strategic ability = knowing how things interact You can be extremely knowledgable and yet useless strategically because you can’t grasp the dynamics that lie between the things you know; and conversely you can be totally ignorant and yet strategically insightful, […]
The post-cultural myth, and how it permeates everything we do
We’ve been pretty technical recently, so figured it was time for another longer macro-trend piece, continuing on from the ones I did on horizontal loyalty, supernormal stimuli, and concentration. No idea if you guys are into these kinds of thing, but it’s a bit of a palette cleanser for me, so I’ll keep knocking them out as the thoughts […]
The danger of boring yourself
The thing about churning out one of these essays every week, is that it forces me to constantly be focusing on the “next” thing: the next idea, the next theory, the next technique, the next talking point. In general this is no bad thing, as it helps me to continuously deepen my knowledge, and hopefully […]
The how cascade – where goals end and strategy begins
Of all the strategic sins one could commit, there are few more heinous than the confusion of “goals” with “strategy”. Fortunately it’s so bad that it’s become something of a cliché. You don’t need to know an awful lot about the field to recognise that “becoming number 1”, or “doubling our revenue”, or “pursuing excellence”, […]
What my strategy documents look like
One question new clients tend to ask when we begin working together, is “what do I get at the end of this?”. Naturally, they get a strategy – and all the ensuing clarity, growth, fame and fortune that goes with it. But that’s not really what they mean. What they mean is what actual “thing” […]
Glossary of strategic ideas – volume 2
The following, as suggested by the title, is an update to my old post cataloguing various strategic hacks, tricks, and thought experiments. The article and old items are the same as before, but I’ve added a bunch of new ones – which I’ve highlighted for people who read the original already. Hope it’s of use, stay […]
The opposites game: how to tell if a strategy is nonsense
By my conservative estimate, about 90% of business strategies are, when you get down to it, exactly the same. They use different words, different rationales, different techniques, different frameworks, but beneath it all the actual content, the actual meaning, is identical. What is this universal mega-strategy of which I speak? Simply this: “Be good” That’s […]
How to be truly rebellious
In 2022, there’s nothing more conformist than being revolutionary. I’ve written about this before, but I still think it bears repeating that it can be quite hard now to find brands who don’t present themselves as being in some way maverick, rebellious, and counter-cultural – even (or especially) amongst corporate giants. They all stand with […]