Conversation

Cedric Chin
@ejames_c
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?
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Cedric Chin
@ejames_c
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.’
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Cedric Chin
@ejames_c
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
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Cedric Chin
@ejames_c
I haven’t fully figured out why the book is so useless. I think it’s some combination of: - Rumelt has good points to make about what good strategy looks like. But so what? - His proposed method to get to one doesn’t tackle the hardest bit, which is context-dependent diagnosis
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Cedric Chin
@ejames_c
- The framework doesn’t carve the problem at the joints, reducing it to the core question you must answer for strategy to work (beat the competition) - As a result it feels actionable but it isn’t, really.
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Cedric Chin
@ejames_c
The reason I say ‘90% convinced’ is because of the “here is what bad strategy looks like” piece — which is genuinely useful as a pattern matching example. But that’s the limit, I think: - sufficiently thoughtful execs should know this - what to do instead? Book has 0 clue.
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Ryan Campbell
@ryandal
Replying to
@ejames_c
Yes that was the bit I found useful, as very few senior leadership teams know this or if they do know it they don’t want conflict amongst themselves so a big list of vague objectives appears very quickly. Context is invariably absent or minimized. Suggestion for a better guide?
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Cedric Chin
@ejames_c
Replying to
@ryandal
Hnm, what’s the context for which you’d like an alternative? I was going to recommend 7 Powers, but it really only helps wrt resisting competitive arbitrage (the central problem in business).
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Ryan Campbell
@ryandal
Replying to
@ejames_c
I think anything that directly addresses where edu strategic planning tends to be weakest that covers some of the following: identifying and countering opposition, not confusing noise and signal in market analysis, importance of (healthy) internal conflict in finalizing plans etc
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Ryan Campbell
@ryandal
Replying to
@ejames_c
Well oddly, one non edu general one that I’ve found really useful over the years and keep coming back to is the US Marine book Warfighting. It’s been extremely thought provoking and there’s always some new bit to to apply as one gets more experienced. In terms of a more specific
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Ryan Campbell
@ryandal
Replying to
@ryandal
and
@ejames_c
So for more specific I’ve found for market analysis thinking on the distinction between proximal and ultimate causes of behaviors very useful and often completely ignored. Schools tend to do what other schools do which in int schools seems a bad idea as it removes local context
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