Strategy as a cure for modern malaise
OK, this title sounds ridiculous. But hear me out, and by the end of this essay, I think I’ll have won you over. First, here’s the issue: The modern world is boring. Now admittedly it’s many other things too. And many of those things might make you happy to be living in the here and […]
The No Bullshit Strategy Manifesto
As with so many things, the issue with strategy is not so much the information out there – it’s the presentation. There is no grand discovery to be made; no revolutionary process or framework; no groundbreaking new way to think about the discipline. Strategy is strategy. And everything there is to know about it is […]
Three ways to know if you’re lying to yourself in your strategy
I’ve often felt that you can boil strategy down to an attempt to simply be as honest as possible. About your business. About yourself. About the world. The closer you get to absolute truth, the more effective your actions. With God-like omniscience anything can be done. You of course know a lot less – but […]
But seriously, does strategy even matter?
One of my concepts that long time readers will be familiar with is this: Strategy is optional. It really is. You don’t have to do it. Most successful people and businesses don’t even bother – at least not consciously. They just hustle and experiment and try, and get their rewards regardless. Generally we can say […]
Perhaps we need to kill strategy and do this instead
A privilege of my position (albeit a slightly dubious one), is that I get to see a lot of strategies. People often send them to me or describe them to me, and so I’m able to form a pretty decent idea of the “strategy zeitgeist” out there. Are they good? Are they bad? What […]
How to do strategy for your own career
You’ll only really understand strategy when you understand this: It’s a universal pattern It’s not a piece of technical knowledge, it’s not something invented, it’s not super domain specific. It’s basically about understanding how things (e.g. businesses) fit into wider systems (e.g. markets) in a healthy and harmonious way that benefits all parties. (Granted there […]
Four useful ways to think about “insight”
Is “strategy” the shittest word in business? No! Although it is indeed misunderstood, and although it’s used to cloak all manner or useless jargony guff, it can only be considered prince of the bullshit realm. The king? There can be no question: Insight. Yes, in comparison to this slippery bugger “strategy” seems solid as a […]
What your advertising tells you about your strategy
Generally I’m very careful not to talk about advertising. It’s dangerous – for me especially. On a business level, I have to make sure that people don’t confuse my product with pure “ad strategy” or “branding strategy”. Many broader strategy discussions devolve to this, for the simple reason that this is where most conscious “strategy […]
Three reasons great strategists think more about style than substance
“The world doesn’t reward the people with the best ideas. It rewards the people who are best at communicating ideas.” – David Perrell We all know that ideas (and strategies) are worth nothing, and execution is everything. This is obvious, or should be anyway. But the notion above? This is more subtle, and I think […]
Three indisputable signs you have no strategy
The last person who should be the judge of whether you have a strategy is you. Everyone has a strategy in their head. Or at least, something they vaguely label as “strategy”. But that’s not where strategy lives, in your head. Instead it lives “out there”. In the fabric of the business, the minds of […]