Good Strategy/Bad Strategy

The Difference and Why It Matters

By: Richard Rumelt

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy clarifies the muddled thinking underlying too many strategies and provides a clear way to create and implement a powerful action-oriented strategy for the real world.

Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader. A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to - and approach for - overcoming the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect. Yet, Rumelt shows that there has been a growing and unfortunate tendency to equate Mom-and-apple-pie values, fluffy packages of buzzwords, motivational slogans, and financial goals with “strategy”.

In Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, he debunks these elements of “bad strategy” and awakens an understanding of the power of a “good strategy”. He introduces nine sources of power - ranging from using leverage to effectively focusing on growth - that are eye-opening yet pragmatic tools that can easily be put to work on Monday morning and uses fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original and pragmatic ideas to life. The detailed examples range from Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from Nvidia to Silicon Graphics, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Cisco Systems to Paccar, and from Global Crossing to the 2007-08 financial crisis.

Reflecting an astonishing grasp and integration of economics, finance, technology, history, and the brilliance and foibles of the human character, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy stems from Rumelt’s decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity.

©2011 Richard Rumelt (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Represents the latest thinking in strategy and is peppered with many current real world examples. Good Strategy/Bad Strategy has much to offer and has every chance of becoming a business classic.” (Management Today)

“Brilliant...a milestone in both the theory and practice of strategy... Vivid examples from the contemporary business world and global history that clearly show how to recognize the good, reject the bad, and make good strategy a living force in your organization.” (John Stopford, chairman, TLP International, professor emeritus, London Business School)

“Penetrating insights provide new and powerful ways for leaders to tackle the obstacles they face. The concepts of "the kernel" and "the proximate objective" are blockbusters. This is the new must-have book for everyone who leads an organization in business, government, or in-between.” (Robert A. Eckert, chairman and CEO of Mattel)

Great book by one of the strategy gurus

I’m no CEO, so I can’t judge how practical is the advice, but from educational perspective the book is very accessible yet theoretically rich. Too rich for listening at 2.5 speed actually , but that’s obviously not the book’s fault

One of the very best of its kind

If you want to know what strategy actually looks like, this is the book. Gets pretty granular in part 2, reflecting, perhaps the author's academic background. But it remains engaging throughout. It is interesting, thought-provoking, and has genuine utility. Like most writings that focus on first principles, it has aged remarkably well.

Deep and thorough research

This was a very good book which contains deep research to support his arguments. He has a lot of business planning experience.

Worth a listen

There were a lot of good nuggets in the book. However, I thought there was quite a bit of context setting that was unnecessary. A decent listen.

Best book on strategy

This has been by far the best book on strategy I have ever read The author has gone to great lengths to not just tell us what the best strategy is out but also how to detect bad strategies with a lot of great examples. I look very much forward to using this data in our business.

key deep systematic thinking w focus strategy

key deep systematic thinking w focus strategy. great not just for business leaders but people looking to lead in their own lives.

Good book for a novice

I always wonder about and often scoff at “strategy”, because of all the bad strategy we see and hear. I’ve never taken business classes or been in business school - if you’re like me, you’d find this pretty interesting.

Good but a bit dense and academic

Hard to listen to on 2x. Great concepts but I wish they went into more details on the stories behind them vs staying on the core concepts

Strategy versus goals and plans

Excellent reinforcement of my understanding of the difference between goals/plans/ objectives to strategies. Goals and plans layout where we are at and where we want to be in a year or two. The strategy is the way to reach the destination with minimum obstacles.

The Manual on Strategy!

I learned far more about strategy by reading and listening to this book than I did in MBA school. Goalsetting, aspirations and financial budgeting are not strategy and it is clearly spelled out in this book.