Feather

Good Strategy Bad Strategy

Richard P. Rumelt · 2011

Strategy
Cover of Good Strategy Bad Strategy

The Difference and Why It Matters

Richard Rumelt argues that most of what passes for strategy in the business world is actually bad strategy — a mix of fluff, failure to face challenges, mistaking goals for strategy, and bad strategic objectives. Good strategy, by contrast, is surprisingly rare and has a basic underlying structure he calls the kernel: diagnosis, guiding policy, and coherent action.

Rumelt, one of the world's most respected strategy professors, wrote this book out of frustration with the degradation of the word "strategy." He saw organizations confusing ambitions with strategy, creating vague vision statements instead of actionable plans, and failing to make the hard choices that real strategy requires.

Bad strategy is not simply the absence of good strategy. It grows out of specific misconceptions and leadership dysfunctions.
— Richard P. Rumelt
from Good Strategy Bad Strategy
The kernel of a strategy contains three elements: a diagnosis, a guiding policy, and coherent action.
— Richard P. Rumelt
from Good Strategy Bad Strategy
Good strategy works by focusing energy and resources on one, or a very few, pivotal objectives whose accomplishment will lead to a cascade of favorable outcomes.
— Richard P. Rumelt
from Good Strategy Bad Strategy
Good to Great

Good to Great

Jim Collins

Same genre — complementary perspectives on Strategy

Competitive Strategy

Competitive Strategy

Michael E. Porter

Essential reading in Strategy

The Toyota Way

The Toyota Way

Jeffrey K. Liker

Complementary insights from Management

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Stephen R. Covey

Related perspective from Leadership