Real Strategy

Escaping E. Berlin; A Simple Way to Devise Complex Strategies (1)

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Bill Carson

COLD WAR CHILLS The Wall came down in 1989. Over 20 years ago. It’s easy to forget what it was like for the people living on both sides of it at the time. NATO had a very important role during the time of The Wall, and Germany and America were especially close partners. Did you know that Germany had Air Force facilities in the U.S. (and still does)? During the later part of the Cold War, I had business with the German Air Force, and flew out of a tightly guarded German facility at Dulles Int’l. Airport. High cyclone fences … Continue reading →

Posted in cool strategies, general strategy model, strategy design | Tagged Achim Weyer, armor, Berlin Wall, car, Cold War, Cologne, complex strategy, crow, East Berlin, elements, General Strategy Model, Germany, how to, Luftwaffe, objectives diagram, opportunity, problem, security, solution, strategy definition, strategy diagram, sub machine guns, sub-objective, sub-strategy, thinking skills | 5 Comments

Escaping E. Berlin; A Simple Way to Devise Complex Strategies (2)

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Bill Carson

FOLLOW-UP to the previous post: here are some specifics on how to devise complex strategies. In that post we were using the example of Achim Weyer’s escape from E. Berlin. Weyer had decided to escape by armoring a car and making it through a checkpoint (gate location) in The Wall. If we were to devise a complex strategy along the line of Weyer’s, we would go through a process of sketching two kinds of diagram. This gets the key points of our strategy down on paper, and in the process, into our heads. The Objectives Diagram First, we’d identify the objective(s) (in this … Continue reading →

Posted in general strategy model, strategy definition, strategy design | Tagged Achim Weyer, armor, Berlin Wall, car, checkpoint, Cold War, complex strategies, complex strategy, creative thinking, critical thinking, devise, East Berlin, elements, General Strategy Model, Germany, how to, Luftwaffe, objectives diagram, opportunity, problem, security, solution, strategy definition, strategy diagram, sub machine guns, sub-strategy | 1 Comment

Strategy in the News: Witch’s Horns

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Bill Carson

Recently in the news, reported by the Fox Network and various newspapers, incl. my local Coloradoan: A North Carolina woman of the Wiccan faith locked horns with school district administrators. She attempted to convince them not to allow the distribution of Christian bibles at the school her daughter was attending. The school district did so, anyway. How to deal with this? As it happens, the law gave the mother, Ginger Strivelli, just what she needed to devise a strategy that created an untenable dilemma for the administrators. The law reads that the administration has two choices. 1) If they refuse the … Continue reading →

Posted in strategy in the news | Tagged bible, dilemma, elements, forts, general sherman, horns, horns of a dilemma, how to win, indirect strategy, puzzle, school district, sherman, strategies in the news, strivelli, wiccan | 9 Comments

How to Devise a Strategy: Affordable Coffee

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Bill Carson

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 →

Posted in strategy design | Tagged coffee, elements, exploit, external factors, how to, mismatch, objective, opportunity, parties, popper, price, problem, resource, solution, thinking skills, timing, vulnerability | 14 Comments

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 →

Posted in cool strategies, strategy overview | Tagged facts of life, how to win, importance of strategy, Mille Miglia, Nuvolari, real strategy, ubiquity of strategies | 6 Comments

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 →

Posted in cool strategies, faux strategies, strategy definition, strategy elements | Tagged advantage, barrier, besiegers, cows, exploit, Monsanto, objective, Portugal, resource, strategy definition, thinking skills, vulnerability | 3 Comments

Escaping E. Berlin; A Simple Way to Devise Complex Strategies (1)

Escaping E. Berlin; A Simple Way to Devise Complex Strategies (2)

Strategy in the News: Witch’s Horns

How to Devise a Strategy: Affordable Coffee

Strategy Facts of Life

What Strategies Are

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