23min chapter

Good Strategy, Bad Strategy | Richard Rumelt

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

notes

CHAPTER

The Importance of Recognizing the Problem and Taking Action

In this chapter, the speaker emphasizes the need to state the problem, identify ambitions, and determine achievable challenges in order to develop a successful strategy. They discuss the concept of the 'crux' and draw parallels between mountain climbing and business challenges. With examples from design, rocket engineering, and problem diagnosis, they highlight the importance of focusing on the difficulty of a problem to find innovative solutions.

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Transcript

Episode notes

Richard Rumelt is a legend in the world of strategy. He’s the author of Good Strategy/Bad Strategy and The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists, both of which are often recommended by guests on this podcast. From his early days teaching in Iran at a Harvard-sponsored business school to teaching at Harvard Business School itself to over four decades teaching at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, Richard’s impact resonates globally. His strategic insights are sought after by major corporations including Microsoft, Shell, Apple, AT&T, Intel, and Commonwealth Bank and by governmental organizations such as the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. In this episode, we discuss:

• The essential components of a good strategy

• The importance of coherence in strategy

• Common pitfalls that create a bad strategy

• How “power” plays into strategy, and common sources of power

• The value of knowing history when developing effective strategies

• Why a strategy should simply be called an “action agenda”

• The need for one decider in an organization

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