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Author Archives: Bill Carson
Escaping E. Berlin; A Simple Way to Devise Complex Strategies (1)
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)
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
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
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
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
