Strategy Facts of Life

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Bill Carson

How to Win a Race  It’s 1930.  It’s in the dark of night, near the end of the famous Mille Miglia (Thousand Mile) day/night endurance road race that started and ended in Brescia, Italy.  Renowned Alfa Romeo driver Achille Varzi is comfortable in his lead.  His nearest competitor has disappeared from his rear view mirror, his engine is running well, and his car is handling fine.  Now all he has to do is ease back on the throttle a little to protect the engine, and finish the race in the lead.  As he backs off his throttle about 3 Km from the … Continue reading →

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What Strategies Are

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Bill Carson

On the 3rd of May each year, the women of Monsanto, Portugal, walk up a stone path from the town to the top of the mountain.  They enter the fortress there and then cast clay jars full of flowers down from its granite walls in commemoration of the villagers’ resistance to the many sieges in the town’s long history.  During a stay in the town, I was told a story about the clay jars and what they represent. They represent cows.  The story goes like this.  Long ago, perhaps in the 1100′s, Monsanto was under siege.  The people of the … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a Strategy

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Bill Carson

Gotta’ have Anatomy Look at the guys in the Rembrandt painting.  They’re old doctors getting an anatomy lesson from the one wearing a hat.  Troubling.  How can you have been a doctor unless you understood the parts of the body and how they work together?  But here these puzzled-looking doctors are, finally getting an anatomy lesson. Reminds me of where we are with strategy today.  We need a small dose of strategy anatomy. It was quite a lag in time before the Western medical profession adopted what should be considered the most minimal understanding necessary to be a practicing doctor.  But in many … Continue reading →

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Mismatch – the Heart of a Strategy

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Bill Carson

Trick question Question 1:  What do successful strategies for drilling a board, catching a pass and winning a dogfight have in common?  Answer:  a mismatch between an advantage and a vulnerability. Question 2:  In what way is Question 1 a trick question? Answer:  because at bottom all successful strategies are based on a mismatch – it has nothing to do with the specifics of the 3 examples. And that’s the point. To have a successful strategy of any kind, you have to arrange for a mismatch that will result in getting to your objective. And what is a mismatch?  It’s a disparity in some … Continue reading →

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Creative Thinking and the Destruction of a Game: External Strategy Factors

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Bill Carson

At a conference in Kunming, southern China, I saw a really good example of a spontaneous strategy devised to win a contest – and a comical outcome.  The participants were a number of bright young managers from Asian companies that distribute electronic components.  It was a long day and to keep everyone’s interest, conference organizers inserted the contest between sessions. The simple game worked like this:  a moderator would ask two questions.  The first person raising his hand and correctly answering both questions would win a prize.  Simple.  There was to be a series of pairs of questions and prizes. Wait.  Before going on, … Continue reading →

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