Note: The ‘we’ refers to the disciplined way this work is done — not a committee.

Effective strategy can survive reality

 

Most strategy advice fails for one of two reasons: it ignores ground truth, or it avoids hard choices.

The approach is simple and demanding:

  • Start with reality, not aspirations
  • Make choices explicit, not implied
  • Test assumptions before they fail
  • Build coherence that execution can carry
  • Keep strategy alive as conditions change

If your organization is facing uncertainty, the thinking collected here is designed to sharpen judgment before decisions are made. even before we speak.

Start here: four short diagnostics

These are designed to be used quickly. They don’t score you. They help you see.

1) Do we actually have a strategy problem?

When execution is failing, it is often because choices are unclear or contradictory. This diagnostic helps you separate “execution issues” from “strategy issues.”

2) What are we choosing, and what are we avoiding?

A strategy that includes everything is not a strategy. This guide helps you identify the decisions you are actually making, even if you have not named them.

3) What would have to be true?

Most strategic debates are really debates about assumptions. This tool helps you convert opinion into testable conditions.

4) What could break our strategy?

A strategy should be able to survive surprise. This exercise helps you surface vulnerabilities early.

Let's explore these questions further

 

The high-level logic of Build

Build focuses on a small set of decisions:

  • Where will we play, and where will we not?
  • How will we win, given our real capabilities?
  • What must be true for this to work?
  • What tradeoffs are we committing to?
  • How will we know early if we’re wrong?

Strategy is not a plan. It is a decision system.

 

Common traps leadership teams fall into

These are patterns, not character flaws:

  • Treating planning as strategy
  • Confusing alignment with agreement
  • Trying to avoid tradeoffs
  • Falling in love with a single future
  • Assuming capabilities you don’t actually have
  • Believing execution will fix unclear choices

If one of these feels familiar, that’s a useful signal.

 

Recommended reading (short list)

These are reliable sources if you want deeper strategy thinking:

  • Roger Martin, Playing to Win
    (Defines the clearest practical model for strategic choice)
  • Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy Bad Strategy
    (Shows how to understand the difference between words and strategy)
  • Rita McGrath, Seeing Around Corners
    (Addresses uncertainty without prediction addiction)

Clayton Christensen, Competing Against Luck

(Addresses demand, jobs-to-be-done, and why customers choose)

These aren't required to work with me but leaders who enjoy deep thinking appreciate the ideas in them.

 

A simple way to use this page

If you do nothing else, do this:

  1. Write down your current “where to play / how to win” in plain language
  2. List the top five assumptions on which each of these depend
  3. Ask what would have to be true for each of these assumptions to occur
  4. Ask what evidence would change your mind?

If this exercise is uncomfortable, you’re probably closing in on the real issues.

 

Want help applying this to your situation?

If you want to pressure-test your strategy thinking, the next step is a conversation.
Not a sales call. A working discussion to determine whether Build is makes sense for you and your team.

 

Start a conversation

 

From time to time, I write short pieces exploring how strategy breaks, adapts, or survives in practice. These are not updates or commentary. They are reflections on real strategic work. View selected essays.