Jun 28

Jun 28 Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters

Author: Richard Rumelt
Publisher: Crown Business
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy clarifies the muddled thinking underlying too many strategies and provides a clear way to create and implement a powerful action-oriented strategy for the real world.

Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader. A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to--and approach for--overcoming the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect. Yet, Rumelt shows that there has been a growing and unfortunate tendency to equate Mom-and-apple-pie values, fluffy packages of buzzwords, motivational slogans, and financial goals with "strategy."

In Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, he debunks these elements of "bad strategy" and awakens an understanding of the power of a "good strategy." He introduces nine sources of power--ranging from using leverage to effectively focusing on growth--that are eye-opening yet pragmatic tools that can easily be put to work on Monday morning, and uses fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original and pragmatic ideas to life. The detailed examples range from Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from Nvidia to Silicon Graphics, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Cisco Systems to Paccar, and from Global Crossing to the 2007-08 financial crisis.

Reflecting an astonishing grasp and integration of economics, finance, technology, history, and the brilliance and foibles of the human character, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy stems from Rumelt's decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity.

TL;DR Review

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy is the first business book I’ve read in years that didn’t feel like it should have been a TED Talk instead. It really lit my brain up and energized me — highly recommend!

For you if: You lead strategy for any part of the company you work for (for example, I lead content strategy).

Full Review

I first heard about Good Strategy/Bad Strategy on an old podcast episode from the content agency Animalz. In it, the hosts discussed how the common use of the term “content strategy” (a set of goals and plans for execution) isn’t actually a “strategy” at all (it’s a plan). This book’s big takeaway — which explains what a strategy is and is not — inspired that episode.

It’s been a long, long time since I read a business book that felt like it earned the entire length of the book. This is no cheap expansion of a good TED Talk, like so many business books nowadays are; it’s a well-written set of lessons explaining a fairly complex topic that builds upon itself. And once you do grasp it, it’s really revolutionary. I covered about 25 sticky notes with notes about how to apply its concepts to my work as a content marketer.

I can’t wait to put this stuff into practice at work in the second half of this year and on. If you’re responsible for the strategy of any part of the company you work for, I highly, highly recommend!!