THE ART OF STRATEGY
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Completed on 2020-04-09
About the Book
What is strategy?
Why do you need it?
How do you do it?
And, how can you be more certain to succeed?
THE ART OF STRATEGY provides timeless answers to these eternal questions. It is a short introduction to strategy through the insights of three successful strategists: Sun Tzu, John Boyd and Simon Wardley. It is a modern reading of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War — the strategy classic written in China around 500 BC — using the lenses of Boyd (OODA "loop" inventor) and Wardley (Wardley Map inventor) who were both influenced by Sun Tzu.
Each chapter gently transforms The Art of War into a modern business setting and includes material from Boyd and Wardley in separate sections to complement and clarify Sun Tzu’s terse, poetic text. The idea is to serve strategy in 13 short chapters requiring 5–10 minutes reading time each. An extensive glossary is included since many Chinese concepts are purposefully abstract and ambiguous.
You will discover new thinking patterns, e.g. OODA "loops" and situational awareness, as well as visualization tools like Wardley Maps that will help you and your organization sustainably thrive in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world where the rate of change will never be slower than today. You will also improve your understanding of the (geo)political gameplays by Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xí Jìnpíng who are all inspired by Sun Tzu.
"The Art of Strategy is condensed knowledge that all managers, agile coaches and other leaders should have. This is three thinkers from very different contexts. But as Erik has put it, with similarities and differences topic by topic, a fourth voice appears. That voice belongs to the interaction between the three narrators and it gives as much value to me as a reader as the other three voices do."
Staffan Nöteberg, author of Monotasking
"Erik Schön has created a great example of Boyd’s 'snowmobile' — a synthesis across a variety of domains leading to new insights and capabilities. I’m sure every strategist, business leader, and entrepreneur will find valuable ideas for making their own enterprises more competitive."
Chet Richards, author of Certain to Win: The Strategy of John Boyd, Applied to Business
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Table of Contents
- Introduction What is strategy and why do you need it? 9
- Acknowledgements Standing on the shoulders of giants 11
- Assessments How to assess, prepare and shape 13
- Challenges How to use and reduce inertia, entropy and friction 27
- Success How to succeed together with stakeholders 37
- Setup How to create resilience 45
- Momentum How to use creativity focus and timing 55
- Shaping How to shape and avoid being shaped 65
- Engagement How to engage using surprise 73
- Adaptations How to adapt to shifting situations 83
- Movements How to move to optimize momentum 95
- Landscape How to approach difficult areas 107
- Situations How to handle difficult situations 115
- Disruption How to disrupt and avoid being disrupted 129
- Intelligence How to use intelligence to create foreknowledge 141
- Sources 145
- Glossary 153
- Index 181
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