Richard Rumelt, a professor of strategy at UCLA's Anderson School, wrote Good Strategy Bad Strategy (2011) to separate real strategy from the slogans, vision statements and wish lists that usually pass for it. Bad strategy, he argues, is fluff, a refusal to name the real problem, and goals mistaken for plans. Good strategy is rarer and plainer.
Its heart is what Rumelt calls the kernel: a diagnosis that names the challenge honestly, a guiding policy for dealing with it, and a set of coherent actions that carry the policy out. He illustrates it with cases from business, war and government, and he is especially sharp on leverage, focus and the discipline of saying no.
It belongs on a shelf about entrepreneurship. Mises described the entrepreneur as someone acting on a judgment about an uncertain future; Rumelt shows how to make that judgment explicit and then act on it coherently. It is the book behind our Tech Value Proposition and MCP Monetization advisory sessions, where the first question is always the diagnosis.
As an Amazon Associate, Good Brew earns from qualifying purchases. This item is sold by Amazon; the link takes you there for current pricing, reviews, and checkout.
