Built to Change

Chapter 3Strategizing

Built-to-Change Strategy:Craft a Series of Temporary Advantages

You may have seen the exercise in which a speaker stands in front of a group with a large glass jar that is filled with three or four big rocks. The speaker asks the audience, “Is the jar full?” The answer, of course, is yes. The speaker then adds a cup of smaller rocks that tumble down and fill in the spaces between the big rocks, and repeats the question. A little wiser, the audience usually offers a range of opinions. The cycle is repeated with small pebbles, then sand, then water. Each time the audience is more and more wary about saying yes to the question, “Is the jar full?” The “big rocks” exercise is a great metaphor for thinking about strategy ...