Good Strategy Bad Strategy

Richard P. Rumelt separates real strategy from what is often mistaken for it: feel-good values, fluffy buzzwords, motivational slogans and financial goals. Good strategy, in his account, is a specific and coherent response to the obstacles blocking progress, rooted in insight into the situation and focusing power where it does the most good. Bad strategy lists desirable outcomes without analysis, focus or any sign of how to reach them. Rumelt sets out nine sources of power, from leverage to a focus on growth, and offers tools for cultivating insight. His examples come from business, nonprofits and military affairs, including Apple and General Motors, and he contends that most organizations have visions and goals instead of a strategy.

Upswing CEO Radu Marcusu named it his favorite business book, saying it delivers real substance instead of buzzwords and explains why bad strategy is everywhere, and technology growth leader Patricia Reed loved its stories of how strategy gets misconstrued. Louis Grenier of Everyone Hates Marketers listed it among his picks for thinking about strategy.