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Good Strategy/Bad Strategy

The Difference and Why It Matters

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Good Strategy/Bad Strategy

By: Richard Rumelt
Narrated by: Sean Runnette
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About this listen

 Good Strategy/Bad Strategy clarifies the muddled thinking underlying too many strategies and provides a clear way to create and implement a powerful action-oriented strategy for the real world.

Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader. A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to—and approach for—overcoming the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect. Yet, Rumelt shows that there has been a growing and unfortunate tendency to equate Mom-and-apple-pie values, fluffy packages of buzzwords, motivational slogans, and financial goals with “strategy.”

In Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, he debunks these elements of “bad strategy” and awakens an understanding of the power of a “good strategy.” He introduces nine sources of power—ranging from using leverage to effectively focusing on growth—that are eye-opening yet pragmatic tools that can easily be put to work on Monday morning, and uses fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original and pragmatic ideas to life. The detailed examples range from Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from Nvidia to Silicon Graphics, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Cisco Systems to Paccar, and from Global Crossing to the 2007–08 financial crisis.

Reflecting an astonishing grasp and integration of economics, finance, technology, history, and the brilliance and foibles of the human character, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy stems from Rumelt’s decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity. Career Success Decision-Making & Problem Solving Economics Leadership Management Management & Leadership Business Career Technology Inspiring Business Strategy Strategic Planning
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This was a thoughtful book on the what makes good or great strategy and what makes it superficial fluff

I have been guilty of producing fluff, but this book along with others will drive me to think more deeply and drive a better organisation

Great strategy

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I enjoyed the way he identified what bad strategy was. I didn’t understand why I didn’t like a leaders great “strategy” to grow. Now I understand it’s not a real strategy. Lots of great info. I will read again and incorporate the ideas into my planning for product strategy.

I learned a lot

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loved it, some parts are quite insightful.

definitely a must read for any product manager

great starting point for product strategy

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Only two downsides - it’s highly technical and probably more than it needs to be - very technical jargon and English language requires you to listen actively and pay attention every single second which can have a high cognitive load. Sometimes it goes into too much detail about specifics of products eg tech products which it shouldn’t it isn’t necessary to overcomplicate stuff.
Another thing that made listening difficult is the narrators robotic voice which wasn’t super grabbing by emotional standards so made this technical book that much harder to listen to.
Other than that this book is rich with information about strategy and having a level headed approach and well as being able to examine your own biases and being honest about what you’re doing.

Good

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The book did not deliver any meaningful understanding of good and bad strategy. The author just tell stories and tries to fir strategy in it but there honestly is no way to tell if that was the strategy and then what could be the alternative to it. Also a lot of times, there is no highlight of strategy. Just fluff and fluff

Read it for stories and no real strategy explanations and differences

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