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I am about 90% convinced that Good Strategy Bad Strategy is a bad book. Two questions: 1. What is something actionable you took away from the book? 2. In a year’s time, circle back and ask: what changes did I make as a result of that takeaway?

Cedric Chin

@ejames_c

Aug 20

In most cases, people give me a semi-profound answer to the first question. Usually it’s the ‘kernel of good strategy’ or ‘what bad strategy looks like’ The answer to the second question is almost invariably ‘nothing.’

Cedric Chin

@ejames_c

Aug 20

Contrast this to 7 Powers, where the takeaway (for those who understand or have experienced competitive arbitrage): - there are really only 7 types of economic moats, or ‘Powers’ - there are at most 3 Powers you may build at a given stage - Power comes from discovery+execution

Replying to

I disagree with this take. Any book that tries to quantify the number of moats or powers is simply perfunctory. His point is that strategy can only address certain areas through specificity and tangible thresholds- there are no magic numbers.

Cedric Chin

@ejames_c

Replying to

@AsiaEconInfo

I respectfully disagree. Helmer is doing something very tightly scoped with 7 Powers, but in a way that is useful to operators. But you don’t have to believe me — simply state a counter example. I’m convinced the 7 Powers are (for now) exhaustive.

2:07 AM · Aug 20, 2022Twitter Web App