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erwinlemueloliva's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Richard Rumelt’s "Good Strategy, Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters" is a compelling exploration into the nature of strategy in business and leadership. Through deep analysis and engaging anecdotes, Rumelt dissects what makes a strategy effective and separates genuine insights from the fluffy, ineffectual advice often touted in the business world.
Here are the highlights of this book, which took me a while to finish because it was that good.
1. The Kernel of Good Strategy: Rumelt introduces the concept of the "kernel," the backbone of any good strategy, which consists of three elements: a diagnosis, a guiding policy, and coherent actions. This framework helps clarify what a plan is as opposed to what many think it is. He emphasizes, "Good strategy requires leaders willing and able to say no to various actions and interests. Strategy is at least as much about what an organization does not do as it is about what it does."
2. The Fallacy of Bad Strategy: As Rumelt outlines, bad strategy often stems from having vague objectives, mistaking goals for strategy, or implementing a series of fluff-filled statements that do not address the organization's core challenges. He argues, "Bad strategy is long on goals and short on policy or action. It assumes that goals are all you need. It puts forward strategic objectives that are incoherent and, sometimes, totally impractical."
3. The Role of Insight and Focus: Insight plays a pivotal role in developing good strategy. Rumelt points out that insightful strategies simplify the complexity of reality by identifying pivotal factors in a situation and designing a way of coordinating and focusing actions to deal with those factors. He states, "The most powerful strategies arise from such game-changing insights."
After careful reading (with a lot of highlighting), I can extract numerous practical strategies for personal and professional growth:
1. Clarify and Confront the Real Challenges: In everyday life, just as in business, directly acknowledging and diagnosing your main challenges or obstacles is vital. Rather than avoiding brutal truths or complex issues, identifying and confronting them head-on allows you to formulate practical and actionable strategies.
2. Simplify and Focus: Rumelt’s advice to simplify complexity and focus on critical aspects can be applied to personal productivity and decision-making. By focusing on a few crucial priorities and designing your actions around them, you can achieve more impactful results, whether in managing your time, projects, or personal goals.
3. Be Decisive in Action: The principle of coherent action in good strategy emphasizes aligning actions with overall strategy. In personal contexts, this means making decisions that consistently align with your long-term goals and values and being willing to say no to distractions that do not serve these objectives.
"Good Strategy, Bad Strategy" is not just a book for CEOs and managers; it is a text that offers valuable insights for anyone looking to think more strategically about their personal and professional lives. Rumelt’s clear and often provocative lessons help crystallize the essence of strategic thinking and how it can be applied across various scopes of life.
Here are the highlights of this book, which took me a while to finish because it was that good.
1. The Kernel of Good Strategy: Rumelt introduces the concept of the "kernel," the backbone of any good strategy, which consists of three elements: a diagnosis, a guiding policy, and coherent actions. This framework helps clarify what a plan is as opposed to what many think it is. He emphasizes, "Good strategy requires leaders willing and able to say no to various actions and interests. Strategy is at least as much about what an organization does not do as it is about what it does."
2. The Fallacy of Bad Strategy: As Rumelt outlines, bad strategy often stems from having vague objectives, mistaking goals for strategy, or implementing a series of fluff-filled statements that do not address the organization's core challenges. He argues, "Bad strategy is long on goals and short on policy or action. It assumes that goals are all you need. It puts forward strategic objectives that are incoherent and, sometimes, totally impractical."
3. The Role of Insight and Focus: Insight plays a pivotal role in developing good strategy. Rumelt points out that insightful strategies simplify the complexity of reality by identifying pivotal factors in a situation and designing a way of coordinating and focusing actions to deal with those factors. He states, "The most powerful strategies arise from such game-changing insights."
After careful reading (with a lot of highlighting), I can extract numerous practical strategies for personal and professional growth:
1. Clarify and Confront the Real Challenges: In everyday life, just as in business, directly acknowledging and diagnosing your main challenges or obstacles is vital. Rather than avoiding brutal truths or complex issues, identifying and confronting them head-on allows you to formulate practical and actionable strategies.
2. Simplify and Focus: Rumelt’s advice to simplify complexity and focus on critical aspects can be applied to personal productivity and decision-making. By focusing on a few crucial priorities and designing your actions around them, you can achieve more impactful results, whether in managing your time, projects, or personal goals.
3. Be Decisive in Action: The principle of coherent action in good strategy emphasizes aligning actions with overall strategy. In personal contexts, this means making decisions that consistently align with your long-term goals and values and being willing to say no to distractions that do not serve these objectives.
"Good Strategy, Bad Strategy" is not just a book for CEOs and managers; it is a text that offers valuable insights for anyone looking to think more strategically about their personal and professional lives. Rumelt’s clear and often provocative lessons help crystallize the essence of strategic thinking and how it can be applied across various scopes of life.
gianouts's review
informative
slow-paced
3.25
Some great insights to a good strategy, including:
- "A Strategy should be a cohesive response to an important challenge."
- It should be a coherent set of analysis, concepts, policies, arguments and actions that respond to a high stakes challenge.
- The kernel of a strategy has 3 elements: diagnosis, guiding policy and coherent action.
- The guiding policy specifies the approach to dealing with the obstables called out in the diagnosis. It is like a signpost marking the direction forward but not defining the details of the trip.
- Coherent actions are feasible coordinated policies, resource commitments and actions designed to carry out the guiding policy.
- Good strategy is not just what you are trying to do, it is also why and how you are doing it.
- Chain linked strategies can offer a strategic competitive advantage that makes it harder for other organisations to emulate.
- Extending a competitive advantage requires looking away from products, buyers and competitors and looking instead at the special skills and resources that underly a competitive advantage. In other words, build on your strengths.
- "A Strategy should be a cohesive response to an important challenge."
- It should be a coherent set of analysis, concepts, policies, arguments and actions that respond to a high stakes challenge.
- The kernel of a strategy has 3 elements: diagnosis, guiding policy and coherent action.
- The guiding policy specifies the approach to dealing with the obstables called out in the diagnosis. It is like a signpost marking the direction forward but not defining the details of the trip.
- Coherent actions are feasible coordinated policies, resource commitments and actions designed to carry out the guiding policy.
- Good strategy is not just what you are trying to do, it is also why and how you are doing it.
- Chain linked strategies can offer a strategic competitive advantage that makes it harder for other organisations to emulate.
- Extending a competitive advantage requires looking away from products, buyers and competitors and looking instead at the special skills and resources that underly a competitive advantage. In other words, build on your strengths.
thaisgobbi's review against another edition
informative
3.0
Really good information but very bland and boring. But good content.
apriladventuring's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
📚 2024 #20: “Good Strategy Bad Strategy” by Richard Rumelt
📕 This book is a guide by a professional strategist, that aims to teach its readers to identify good and bad strategy. Using many examples from his own work and from history, Rumelt shares common pitfalls people fall into, such as setting goals without having an action plan for getting there. The strategies discussed here range from corporate to military to show us how to properly think through solving a problem.
⭐️⭐️ 2/5: I had trouble putting my finger on exactly what bothered me about this book, but another Goodreads reviewer summed it up perfectly: it feels like the purpose of this book was to act as a memoir and proof of Rumelt's strategic genius. There were surely some nuggets of wisdom, but it's easy to see what worked when reviewing in hindsight. Making smart, strategic decisions in the moment isn't always as easy or obvious as it may later seem. I found the book inapplicable for 99% of the population and far too drawn out. This is a "should have been a blog post" book.
🤓 You should read this if you own or are a leader in a mega corporation? Alternatively, I'd recommend "The Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel or "Oversubscribed" by Daniel Priestley.
📕 This book is a guide by a professional strategist, that aims to teach its readers to identify good and bad strategy. Using many examples from his own work and from history, Rumelt shares common pitfalls people fall into, such as setting goals without having an action plan for getting there. The strategies discussed here range from corporate to military to show us how to properly think through solving a problem.
⭐️⭐️ 2/5: I had trouble putting my finger on exactly what bothered me about this book, but another Goodreads reviewer summed it up perfectly: it feels like the purpose of this book was to act as a memoir and proof of Rumelt's strategic genius. There were surely some nuggets of wisdom, but it's easy to see what worked when reviewing in hindsight. Making smart, strategic decisions in the moment isn't always as easy or obvious as it may later seem. I found the book inapplicable for 99% of the population and far too drawn out. This is a "should have been a blog post" book.
🤓 You should read this if you own or are a leader in a mega corporation? Alternatively, I'd recommend "The Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel or "Oversubscribed" by Daniel Priestley.
r_musil's review against another edition
5.0
هر استراتژی خوب سه بخش داره، شناخت مساله، سیاست های راهنما برای حل مساله و مجموعه اقدامات منسجم
yates9's review against another edition
5.0
A business view of strategy but also one of the few to make strategic thinking something more specific than post-hoc history written by the winner.
The book could be condensed to something much shorter...
The book could be condensed to something much shorter...
jeffpowell's review
3.0
Quality of key points: 4/5
Richard has great points to share about “good strategy” and “bad strategy” in this book that many businesses would benefit greatly from. His emphasis on slowing down and defining the problem well before chasing a solution resonates well with my experience as a software engineer. Defining actions rather than goals was also well-received. I had some trouble understanding his recommendation of including a “guiding principle”.
Delivery of content: 3/5
Richard seems to prefer ensuring his points are well-supported by testing a given point against multiple various examples. This trades off making it easier to apply his advice to your circumstance with making the narrative seem long-winded and more prone to talking circles around the same conversational point. The quality of examples were high enough that I think he would have done fine even with half the examples in the book.
Richard has great points to share about “good strategy” and “bad strategy” in this book that many businesses would benefit greatly from. His emphasis on slowing down and defining the problem well before chasing a solution resonates well with my experience as a software engineer. Defining actions rather than goals was also well-received. I had some trouble understanding his recommendation of including a “guiding principle”.
Delivery of content: 3/5
Richard seems to prefer ensuring his points are well-supported by testing a given point against multiple various examples. This trades off making it easier to apply his advice to your circumstance with making the narrative seem long-winded and more prone to talking circles around the same conversational point. The quality of examples were high enough that I think he would have done fine even with half the examples in the book.