Steve,
Hope You are doing well. I've read an incisive book on strategy by Richard P. Rumlet called, "Good Strategy Bad Strategy".
I know you are super busy and the challenge "to keep up" with all the business books is "so difficult".
So I made your life easier in three ways:
1. Actionable Steps: I made a checklist for you that can run through on when you are getting your "next brew" or your next "walk to a meeting".
2. Distilled Meditations: I picked the "need to know" lines for you. The 20% of the book that will give you 80% of the knowledge. All in 3 bullet points.
3. Deeper Insights: On the off-chance that you are really curious about the book and want to dive deeper I pulled out the larger blocks that "made me think". As well as providing the insights that I gained from it.
You can read the checklist and distilled meditations in 10 minutes and be done with it. Delve deeper on your own accord and at your own will!
Let's start with
The Distilled Meditations.
Bullet #1: Good Strategy in a Nutshell
Three building blocks of Good Strategy is the kernel: (think that you are a DiGGA for kernels!) (Diagnosis, Guiding Policy, and Coherent Action)
"every building block of good strategy...intelligent application; a guiding policy that reduced complexity, the power of design, focus, using advantage, riding a dynamic wave of change, and the important role played by inertia and disarray of rivals."
Bullet #2: The Hallmarks of Bad Strategy
Remember: At the FLUFF challenge our GOAL is OBESITY.
Imagine people having a FLUFF eating competition where their GOAL is to Get Obese.
-FLUFF: verbage that isn't actionable.
-CHALLENGES: and failure to address the challenges
-GOALS: as strategy
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The Mental Checklist
Questions to ask yourself for strategic thinking...
1. What is the company's (or your personal) competitive advantage?
2. What are the fundamental problems?
3. What are the isolating mechanisms?
4. What are the obstacles in the way?
5. What is the one FEASIBLE objective when accomplished would make the biggest difference?
6. How can we build on our strength without diluting it?
7. What are the subterranean forces I need to identify? How do I capitalize on them?
8. How do we make our feedback loops faster?
9. THE BIG QUESTION: How can I make a coherent design reverse engineered from my one FEASIBLE objective and all the other factors mentioned above?