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 […]
The most simple strategic framework
I’ve made a song and dance in the past about my aversion to templates, models, frameworks, and the like in order to generate strategy. None, I believe, can be said to perfectly match every possible strategy – and in some cases they can even drag people away from perfectly good solutions, simply because they weren’t […]
Strategic unity: how to blend the functional with the emotional
I often say that the best businesses are generic in every way but one. In amongst a framework of safe and recognisable best practice, they have a single disarming insight which subverts the status quo, and from which all their leverage stems. In my case, although I dress everything up to appear distinctive, there really […]
Does the military have anything to teach us about strategy?
I’m going to level with you here, I’ve not actually read Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. I know, I know, what kind of strategist am I? A pretty poorly read one, truth be told. I did not learn my craft “top down”, through careful study of canonical texts and Harvard Business Review papers, but […]
Minimum viable strategy: the art of leaving things alone
The other day I was introduced to a lovely idea which I’m sure will resonate strongly with anyone who has to do something “creative” for a living: The Queen’s Duck. It comes from the development of a video game, Battle Chess, and more specifically a moment of ingenuity on behalf of one of the animators […]
There are two types of strategy – which do you need?
Ostensibly, a business strategy is about growth. Figure out a direction, execute on it, sell more stuff. Simple as that. However, whilst this is broadly true, the process by which you find a strategy can be quite different depending on your stage of development. Indeed the way one business goes about it can be the complete opposite […]
How not to be disrupted
Note: after last week’s discussion and the idea of balancing planned vs. agile strategies, I gave it some more thought and came up with a concept I think explains it well. So you can consider this a bit of a follow up, hope you enjoy. ____ Generally speaking, I think the pace of change is wildly exaggerated. […]
Agile vs. planned – and why wrong is sometimes better than right
In the wonkish strategy world, there is a debate between two schools: agile and planned. So far as I can tell planned strategies are those which involve setting out a particular position against the competition and sticking to it, whilst agile strategies are naturally more open to regular change, depending on circumstances and opportunities. Who […]
The Challenger Trap: fighting the status quo with the status quo
Once up on a time, to be a “challenger brand” simply meant that you weren’t number one. On this basis pretty much any brand could be framed as such, without it really saying anything about their philosophy or approach to the market. One of the original challenger brands, for example, was Avis, the car rental […]