Quotes About Strategy

The greatest conqueror is he who overcomes the enemy without a blow

If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.

The soldier who retreated 50 paces jeered at the one who retreated 100 paces

The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.

To [Chinese], war does not revolve around fighting. It is about determining the most efficient way of gaining victory with the least amount of conflict.

make a switch, you need to script the critical moves

The "occasionally remarkable" moments shouldn't be left to chance! They should be planned for, invested in.

Big-picture, hands-off leadership isn't likely to work in a change situation, because the hardest part of change—the paralyzing part—is precisely in the details.

Big problems are rarely solved with commensurately big solutions.

Good ideas are often adopted quickly. When all retailers adopt centralized checkout as a "best practice," it's no longer a competitive advantage for anyone.

By using Kamb's level-up strategy, we multiply the number of motivating milestones we encounter en route to a goal. That's a forward-looking strategy: We're anticipating moments of pride ahead.

marry your long-term goal with short-term critical moves.

Finding bright spots, then, solves many different problems at once. That's no surprise; successful change efforts involve connecting all three parts of the framework: Rider, Elephant, and Path.

You can't count on these milestones to occur naturally. To motivate change, you've got to plan for them.

When the researchers compared whether process or analysis was more important in producing good decisions—those that increased revenues, profits, and market share—they found that "process mattered more than analysis—by a factor of six." Often a good process led to better analysis—for instance, by ferreting out faulty logic.

When a CEO discusses "unlocking shareholder value," there is a tune playing in her head that the employees can't hear.

You can't script every move—that would be like trying to foresee the seventeenth move in a chess game. It's the critical moves that count.

When the researchers compared whether process or analysis was more important in producing good decisions—those that increased revenues, profits, and market share—they found that "process mattered more than analysis—by a factor of six." Often a good process led to better analysis—for instance, by ferreting out faulty logic. But the reverse was not true: "Superb analysis is useless unless the decision process gives it a fair hearing." To

created this framework to be useful for people who don't have scads of authority or resources. Some people can get their way by fiat. CEOs, for instance, can

has a problem focus when he needs a solution focus. If you are a manager, ask yourself: "What is the ratio of the time I spend solving problems to the time I spend scaling successes?

As a result, choosing between Plan A and Plan B is not a close call. Here's the astonishing finding from the Forrester data: If you Elevate the Positives (Plan B), you'll earn about 9 times more revenue than if you Eliminate the Negatives (Plan A). (8.8 times, to be precise.) Yet most executives are pursuing Plan A. (See the footnote for more on the methodology and an anticipated quibble.)II

Seeking out one more option. Finding someone else who's solved our problem. Asking, "What would have to be true for you to be right?" Ooching as a way to dampen politics. Making big decisions based on core priorities. Running premortems and preparades. Laying down tripwires. Using these techniques will improve the results of your group decisions.

When the researchers compared whether process or analysis was more important in producing good decisions—those that increased revenues, profits, and market share—they found that "process mattered more than analysis—by a factor of six." Often a good process led to better analysis—for instance, by ferreting out faulty logic. But the reverse was not true: "Superb analysis is useless unless the decision process gives it a fair hearing.

to marry your long-term goal with short-term critical moves.