Notes from Good Strategy, bad Strategy and the Crux - Podcast with Lenny adn Rummelt

Source

Strategy is about how to overcome high stakes challenges One needs to differentiate between Strategy and analytical tools for solving or analyzing problems. E.g 7 Powers framework or Wardley Maps are such tools for deriving a strategy, but they are not the strategy!

Instead on strategy one might call it Action Agenda

The Kernel

Diagnose the situation

• What is going on?
• Hypotheses of what is going on & how things are connected … we have that problem, because …
• Use any of the strategy tools for that!
• What is holding you back?

Guiding Policy

• What are we going to do about this problem?
• How will we deal with the situation

Coherent Action

• Deal with the problem
• Don’t fight with other achievers

BAD STRATEGY

• Set of wished goals
• List of the thing you wish to happen
• Fluff, word salad
• Incoherent actions
• goals are not the strategy as they leave out important aspects

Strategy hints

• Every time you say yes to something, you risk to turn a nascent strategy into a bad strategy
• Need a source of power / advantage / efficiency → focus that power on a target that you can affect
• Focus vs. different interests
• 7 powers - find the advantage
  • Notes from the 7 Powers - Strategy
• Strategy needs to exploit an asymmetry
  • Relationships
  • Knowledge
  • Unforeseen / Counterintuitive
• How is my company different?
  • Power of the user base … network effect
  • Size is what matters
• You need to have a reason that makes sense – derived from a source of power
• A lot based on history and past experience

Most important tool: Think Again

• 📖 The Crux
  • [[The Crux - Richard Rumelt]]
• Ambitious -> for which can you begin to make progress?
• Choose a deadline that:
  • is important but also
  • is achievable
• The Crux is the hardest part of the problem
• Look at a problem - figure out what makes it hard to solve - find a way to solve it.
• Insights come from immersing into a problem!
• How should you go about creating a strategy?
  • Senior executives have to do this!
  • And they usually already know enough to do this
• Inertia through (connect to Wardley Maps and forms of inertia)
  • Diversity of talent
  • Fear of Action

Strategy in a Start Up

• You are making a bet
• You need to be clear about that bet
• You got to be willing to shift
• Quick adaptations to changing conditions
• Think → How should it be?
  • (the ideal window examples)
  • describe that state in full detail to spot areas to address

Linking

• MOC Strategy
• Good strategy, bad strategy visualized
• mentioned 📖 Playing to Win - Alan G Lafley Roger L Martin
• mentioned 📖 [[Only the Paranoid Survive]]

Enjoy this post?