Tag Archives: resource

Strategy in the News: Drones, a New Resource

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Bill Carson

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

Resources in Strategy; Lye Brook Wilderness

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Bill Carson

BOURN POND Its nice sitting in this tree. The sun has broken through intermittent clouds, switching on the brilliant leaves of my red maple. This is no ordinary tree. It’s a cage. The main trunk is normal for the first two or three feet. Then it splits into 5 sub-trunks that start horizontally for a couple of feet, then go straight up, creating a cage. Once inside it, your visual field is saturated red leaves. Gorgeous. The tree is on the shore of Bourn Pond in the Lye Brook Wilderness in southern Vermont; it’s the only place I’ve seen trees … Continue reading →

Posted in Gray Area, strategy anatomy, strategy design, strategy elements | Tagged Bourn Pond, creative thinking, devising, Gray Area, how to, Lye Brook Wilderness, resource, resourceful, silk, spider, survival, thinking skills, web | 3 Comments

The Winds of Patagonia; Cooperative Strategy

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Bill Carson

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 →

Posted in cooperative strategies, strategy design, strategy types | Tagged Andes, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Argentina, Buenos Aires, bump drafting, car, cooperative strategy, dogfight, elements, external factors, Great Enabler, mismatch, NASCAR, parties, Patagonia, resource, Strait of Magellan, sub-strategy, Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia, wind | 4 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

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

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 →

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