Follow Real Strategy
Tag Archives: advantage
Strategy in the News: Drones, a New Resource
DRONING THE FARM Robert Blair’s neighbors have grown accustomed to seeing him launch a small aircraft over his fields in Idaho. It’s a nice-looking little plane about 4 ft. long, with a wingspan of around 8 feet, that systematically flies back and forth over sections of his land. What’s Blair doing with this thing? He runs a good-sized operation – 1,500 acres. It’s hard to know where and how much to be tending the crops on a spread this size. And the cost of tending them has risen dramatically as the costs of fertilizer, fuel and water have increased. So targeting … Continue reading →
Posted in strategy anatomy, strategy design, strategy elements, strategy in the news | Tagged advantage, barrier, creative thinking, critical thinking, drone, elements, exploit, objective, resource, strategy diagram, vulnerability | 2 Comments
What Strategies Are
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
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 →
Posted in cool strategies, efficient strategies, strategy definition, strategy elements | Tagged advantage, anatomy, barrier, Egypt, element pairs, elements, exploit, geometry, how to win, mismatch, objective, opportunity, problem, resource, solution, vulnerability | 5 Comments
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 →
Posted in cool strategies, efficient strategies, strategy anatomy | Tagged advantage, barrier, combat, drill bit, fighter plane, football, how to win, mismatch, puzzle, survival skills, Thatch Weave, thinking skills, Wildcat, Zero | 2 Comments
