Tag Archives: mismatch

The Winds of Patagonia; Cooperative Strategy

Down the E. Coast of Patagonia My friend Marcelo organized a car trip through Patagonia.  As a young guy he had worked on a Patagonian estancia and knew the territory well.  The plan was to start in Buenos Aires, drive down the east side of Argentina through the Pampas, along the Atlantic Coast of Patagonia, cross the Strait of Magellan, spend Christmas week with friends in Ushuaia on the island of Tierra Del Fuego, then re-cross the Strait, head west, drive back north along the Andes Cordillera, and then east again to Buenos Aires.  6000 miles.  We would be stopping … Continue reading

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How to Devise a Strategy: Affordable Coffee

We’re all wired to devise strategies. So you just have to put the right info into your head, and it will take care of the rest.  Let it all sit there.  Give your intuition an opportunity to do its work.  You’re objective will create the pull that draws out the strategy.  Your barriers and available resources, and their many possibilities, will shape it.  It will come to you. Here’s an example of devising a strategy This method is easy, and makes sense.  It follows the natural thinking sequence of  problem > opportunity > solution. Situation: You like to drink a … Continue reading

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Anatomy of a Strategy

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

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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