Category: Business Strategy

  • You Don’t Know AI – The AI Strategy Guide

    Obligatory Dalle AI Generated image for “AI” and no, Dalle can’t spell “AI” IntroTL:DRWhat is it?How does it work?What can it do?What can’t it do?Who controls it?How do I leverage it?What is the strategic context?So what? Obligatory AI Disaster Meme Key Takeaways: ChatGPT is a chatbot powered by GPT AI. AI is so much more…

  • 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 ya. Strategy Lesson – People only do what they know. And that means they won’t…

  • 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 Strategy Book by Max McKeown – Accessible, simple, covers the Basics. Memorize it. Strategy: A…

  • 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 the leadership develop the plan, and the push it down to those below them on…

  • 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 works. Not just “I’m going to open a coffee shop that sells to such and…

  • 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 out of trouble. If you can get three strangers to agree on Pizza toppings I’ll…

  • Why Mars? Elon Musk’s Strategy

    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 chance to appear prophetic. As it is this is still a fun topic. So Ted,…

  • 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 the obligatory definitions, I could argue these, but for today we’ll go by what’s currently…

  • 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 soldiers that are not that keen on math, and don’t have much use for it…

  • 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 fast) About a year ago, an interesting gentleman named Max McKeown apparently found my inconsistent effort…

  • And we’re back – with some thoughts on the OODA Spiral

    Just short on my lunch break, but had some fascinating side discussions helping out with the strategic planning for ironically the Association of Strategic Planning (ASP). (Warning, on a reread this is heavy wonk on esoteric terminology, and I’ve found hyperlinks outside the blog to reference ideas expire and then do little good, keep google…

  • Motives, Managing Expectations, Alignment and Friction.

    So, been gone for a very long time. Explanation – life is what happens while you are making other plans.  Survived the “new normal” economy.  New day job, new house, lots of new changes. First a good strategic lesson I just picked up from a really popular blog:  The Art of Non-Conformity “…one important fact:…

  • Strategic Science on the Competitive Intelligence Podcast!

    First thing – sorry for the months without posts. The site got hacked while I was out of town, followed immediately by a nice contract that’s using 50 hours a week (paying jobs come first), and did I mention that toddlers benefit from time and attention.  I had to create the opportunities to actually plug…

  • You don’t know Sun Tzu

    An out­side the box strate­gic dis­cus­sion by Ted S Galpin You don’t know Sun Tzu Well, actu­ally maybe you do.  But Prob­a­bly not the same way I do. I’ve been work­ing long days on the strat­egy book, and Sun Tzu cer­tainly takes some time to inter­nal­ize.   There’s a say­ing — “there’s noth­ing new under the sun.”  That’s…

  • The Problem with Competitive Intelligence

    An out side the box strate­gic dis­cus­sion by Ted S Galpin The Prob­lem with CI When keep­ing up with the CI prac­tice, a com­mon theme is CI falls on deaf ears and is heav­ily under uti­lized.  How do you fix that? In a nut­shell, if you don’t main­tain a close rela­tion­ship with your CI cus­tomers, espe­cially exec­u­tives,…

  • Strat­egy bogged down by reality?

    Strat­egy bogged down by reality? A per­sonal note. Ok seri­ously, one of my prob­lems is get­ting “looped” by the every­day grind. Let’s step back a moment. What do I mean by looped? I need to explain John Boyd, his OODA loop, and a lit­tle his­tor­i­cal context. In brief, John Boyd was an Air Force Colonel, rep­utably…