The purpose of good strategy

“The purpose of good strategy is to offer a potentially achievable way of surmounting a key challenge.”

So says Richard Rumelt, UCLA business professor and strategy expert.

“A strategy is a way through a difficulty, an approach to overcoming an obstacle, a response to a challenge. If the challenge is not defined, it is difficult or impossible to assess the quality of the strategy. And if you cannot assess a strategy’s quality, you cannot reject a bad strategy or improve a good one.

“If you fail to identify and analyze the obstacles, you don’t have a strategy. Instead, you have either a stretch goal, a budget, or a list of things you wish would happen.”

Next: read about the kernel of good strategy.

From Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt.