Category Archives: Strategy

You Don’t Know AI: What Can AI actually do in 2023? A Detailed Strategic Assessment of Generative AI

Intro TL:DR What 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?   Key Takeaways: ChatGPT is a chatbot powered … Continue reading

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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

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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

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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

Posted in Business Strategy, Strategic Science, Strategy | 5 Comments

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

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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

Posted in Business Strategy, Strategy | 1 Comment

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

Posted in Math, Quora Answer, Space, Strategy | 3 Comments

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

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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

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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

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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

Posted in Business Strategy, Space, Strategy | 3 Comments

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

Posted in Geopolitics, Military Strategy, Strategy | 9 Comments

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

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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

Posted in Business Strategy, Strategic Science, Strategy | 11 Comments

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

Posted in Business Strategy, Games, Math, Military Strategy, Strategy | 1 Comment

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

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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 … Continue reading

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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 … Continue reading

Posted in Business Strategy, Military Strategy, Self Help, Strategy | 2 Comments

The coolest thing I’ve seen all year (AI)

Hi there world. First – A warning to all you young turks out there gearing up to change the world. It will vary with circumstances, but infants are resource consuming schwerpunkts, that will make it difficult to finish any other … Continue reading

Posted in Games, Military Strategy, Strategy | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The Difference Between Intelligence and Espionage

An out­side the box strate­gic dis­cus­sion by Ted S Galpin The Dif­fer­ence Between Intel­li­gence and Espi­onage. Is a mat­ter of life and death. (2016 Bonus answer – because this article gets a ton of traffic – here’s the direct answer: … Continue reading

Posted in Competive Intelligence, Geopolitics, Intelligence, Military Strategy, Strategy | 5 Comments