"Good Strategy Bad Strategy" - 2 min book review

Does your company have a good strategy? What is the strategy? One thought with which I can relay a lot from the “Good Strategy Bad Strategy” that staff usually perceive as a strategy as anything published and approved by the C-suite level. But is it a strategy? And if not - what makes a good strategy. Richard P. Rumelt in “Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters” tries to summarise what is a strategy, its core components, and how to create a good one.

Not a strategy

Before we go to what strategy is, maybe let’s start with a common misconception as highlighted in the book:

Strategy is not goal setting
Strategy is not a synonym for success
Strategy is not just an actions
There is only one strategy (there could be multiple strategies on multiple levels)

What makes a bad strategy

To detect Bad strategy look for:

Fluff - use of inflated words
Failure to face a challenge
Mistaking goals for strategy
A bad strategy objective - impractical or don’t address problems

Good Strategy

Richard Rumelt provides a simple kernel of a strategy :

Diagnosis - identify a core challenge
Policy - choose a direction to move towards
Coherent actions - set of logical actions to keep you focused on the goal

Strategy is a lever that magnifies the strength

Good strategy coordinates policies and actions; explains how an organization will move forward; helps to supply more value to a segment of the market than competitors; rise brand value by consistent characteristics of their product; challenges system entropy.

Strategy is an internally consistent argument that leads to diagnosis and then actions

Personal thought

Good Strategy Bad Strategy - gives you a lot of useful information. The author explains what is a strategy and how to create one. Provide a lot of examples from business and his professional tuition. In case you are looking to learn only about the Strategy framework part - it could be summarised in one chapter, you can get it in most book reviews posted online. Having said that, I enjoyed reading the book.