A Bad Strategy is Superficial

A bad strategy is formalism, characterized by four fundamental traits

1. Empty rhetoric ==obfuscation== ==fluff== Strategy should not be a mere accumulation of grandiose terms.

   • e.g. a major bank “Our fundamental strategy is one of customer-centric intermediation.” = “Our bank’s fundamental strategy is being a bank.”

2. Failure to confront challenges

   • If you fail to identify and analyze the obstacles, you don’t have a strategy. Instead, you have either a stretch goal, a budget, or a list of things you wish would happen.
   • This reminds me that the choice of root level metrics must be very careful, ==If you can't measure it, you can't improve it==
   • A positive example is DARPA.

3. Mistaking goals for strategy

   • e.g. a 20/20 goal - We will grow revenue by at least 20% each year. We will maintain a profit margin of at least 20%.
   • Metrics are not strategy.

4. Sub-goals that are irrelevant or unrealistic

   • Goal is the overall objective, Objective is the sub-goal.
   • 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.
   • What kind of sub-goals are bad sub-goals?
     1. Dog’s Dinner Objectives - putting everything together without distinction.
     2. Blue-Sky Objectives - unrealistic aspirations.