Strategic

CHAPTER 1Strategy

“Good strategies promote alignment among diverse groups within an organization, clarify objectives and priorities, and help focus efforts around them. In essence, they act like a map and compass. They provide direction.”

—Clayton Christensen, former professor, Harvard Business School

The concept of strategy initially sprang from the need for people to defeat their enemies. The first treatises that discuss strategy are from the Chinese during the period of 400–200 BCE. Chinese general and philosopher Sun Tzu's The Art of War, written around the fifth century BCE, has received critical acclaim as the best work on military strategy, including those that have followed it centuries later. However, unlike the later theoretical treatises, the Chinese works took the form of narratives, including poems and prose accounts. An example of this prose form of strategy can be seen in the poem by Lao Tzu, the father of Taoism:

Once grasp the great form without a form

and you will roam where you will

with no evil to fear,

calm, peaceful, at ease.

The hub of the wheel runs upon the axle.

In a jar, it is the hole that holds water.

So advantage is had

from whatever there is;

but usefulness rises

from whatever is not.¹

While at first glance it may be difficult to identify an element of strategy in the poem, a key principle found here is the importance of “not,” because strategy demands trade‐offs—choosing your “nots.” The business parallel is the need for disciplined focus ...