Category Archives: Strategic Science
Isn’t the rest of the world sitting idle while Putin decimates Ukraine?
No. Here’s a free Strategy Lesson. The best way to protect somone from a bully, is to empower them to stop the bully themself. Or, give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, … Continue reading
Misuse of OODA Loops – not as simple as you think
Funny thing I always see with OODA Loops. Today it was on Linkedin between meetings. Let me start with – I’ve respected Mihai and his work for years. He’s a good business strategist. But we may disagree on this fine … Continue reading
How to get into strategy work, how to do strategy.
So honestly guys, I get asked a lot about how to get into strategy and/or consulting. Or simply how to do a strategy. On LinkedIn, on Twitter, on Facebook. And these days even IG and TikTok. There are many ways … Continue reading
You Don’t Know Coronavirus
I’m writing this on April 24th, 2020. Much is still unknown. Much will Change. Sun Tzu said, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never fear defeat. You don’t know CV19 – technically SARS-CoV-2, which I’m calling CV19, … Continue reading
People Are Predictable
Been working on the social media strategy. Tik Tok is a good place to learn how to make videos. Not always time to do the long expository essays. But something is better than nothing. So here’s some brief strategy for … Continue reading
What subjects do politicians and military leaders study in order to formulate and implement grand strategies for their countries and the world?
TLDR: Grand Strategy is not only where military strategy meets statecraft. Grand strategy is understanding everything about a nation and it’s place in the world. Agriculture, business, water, energy, weather, people, religion, pop culture, internal and external politics, risks, threats, infrastructure … Continue reading
What are the best ways to learn business strategy?
First a quick reading list: These are Basic Books that will cover the topic broadly: Most of these are available as audio books if you prefer. Complete MBA for Dummies – to cover business basics. Doesn’t hurt to memorize. The … Continue reading
What is a win-win strategy?
Oh fun. TLDR – a win – win strategy is a scenario where all stakeholders in a situation get what they want, or “win”. First, the text book. In game theory, A win–win game is a game which is designed in a … Continue reading
What is the difference between a top down and bottom up design appoach?
OK vague question, so there a a few different ways to look at it: Top Down vs Bottom up. Already been tried here: What is the difference between top down and bottom up approaches? From an organizational perspective: Top down is having … Continue reading
Why are people from the future not time traveling to our period, assuming time travel technology is available in the future?
Let’s assume it’s physically possible to travel backwards in time… Every one forgets the earth is a spaceship traveling through the heavens.. Some Astrophysics 101: The earth is orbiting the sun at a fast speed. The Sun is orbiting the … Continue reading
What is the difference between business strategy and a business model?
TLDR – The business model is a part of the toolkit used in business strategy. Is a business model the same thing as a business strategy? Yes and no. Business models are how you make money and how the business … Continue reading
Why is it that governments (or large organizations) rarely do anything intelligent?
This is a strategic exercise in understanding how large groups of people operate. TLDR: You try getting a large group of people to agree on anything while trying to figure out how to pay for it while keeping them all … Continue reading
Who would win between Grand Admiral Thrawn with 6 Imperial Star Destroyers vs Grand Moff Tarkin with the first Death Star?
This is a guilty pleasure. Yes, I have read far too many books, and a star wars fan, and spend too much time on Quora. Honestly, this is just an illustrative exercise in assessment and investigation scenarios and options. At … Continue reading
Why Mars? Elon Musk’s Strategy
Why Mars? What is Elon Musk’s Strategy? Hey guys. I actually went over this a few times with colleagues over the summer, and started writing this right before Elon Musk started his Mars PR campaign in September. Just missed the … Continue reading
Is the US uninvadable?
So kids, this is something I killed a morning with on Quora back in April – an excuse to write about a scenario I’ve obviously been thinking about for a long time. After a few months it’s at 161,500 views, … Continue reading
Can Bruce Bueno de Mesquita predict the future?
So here’s one I first took on in Quora, and it’s a fun topic – Can Bruce Bueno de Mesquita predict the future? NYU Professor BBdM claims to predict international policy events with >90% accuracy in his book “The predictioneers … Continue reading
A New Strategic Science?
A new strategic science. That could have so many meanings. So what do I mean? First obviously I haven’t been publishing much on the Blog the last couple of years. Due to a combination of things – raising a small … Continue reading
Strategy vs. Tactics (not what you expect)
So, I got some highly unanticipated free time, so here’s a quick run through some important fundamentals. I don’t care what you do, mastery of the fundamentals is the key to being successful, be it sports, work, or strategy. First … Continue reading
TED, FRY, Complexity, Systems and Strategy
First in a series on prediction. I hope. Today is a simple if abstract discussion. The math of strategy. Now the majority of my peers at ASP specifically avoid the quantitative, and most strategists I’ve encountered are MBA’s, historians, or … Continue reading
The Strategy Book
Leo over at Zen Habits is suggesting I would be happier if I write more. He’s probably correct. So here’s a story boys and girls… (And usual rules apply, keep Google handy for my obscure references, HTML links go stale too … Continue reading