Insights
Principles distilled from my university textbook, Strategic Management (NSTU Press, 2022) — focused on decisions, priorities and execution.
Insight 01
A strategy is more than a statement of intent. It should translate into specific, sequenced, resourced moves over the next few years — clear enough for a team to discuss, challenge and execute.
From Strategic Management (NSTU Press, 2022).
Insight 02
A real strategy is a portfolio, not a prediction. Build at least two alternative strategic plans — a base case and one or more others — each with the assumptions and triggers that switch you between them. The goal isn't to forecast the future correctly; it's to stay competitive under any scenario it delivers, including a crisis.
From Strategic Management (NSTU Press, 2022).
Insight 03
Many mission statements remain too abstract to guide decisions. A working mission is a concrete, mostly confidential operating spec: values, products, 2–3 strategic priorities for the period, your positioning market (customers, suppliers, partners), how you'll expand it, your key management technologies, and your financing principles. Of those seven elements, only one — your values — is meant for the public.
From Strategic Management (NSTU Press, 2022).
Insight 04
Plans are subordinate. Tactics exist to execute strategy; operations exist to execute tactics. When organizations stall, it's usually because they inverted this — polishing operations while the strategy above them is vague or missing. Fix the top of the cascade first, and everything below inherits its clarity.
From Strategic Management (NSTU Press, 2022).
Insight 05
There are two mindsets. One says: "give me the budget, the headcount, the conditions — then I'll act." The entrepreneurial one says: "I am, I do, I have." Strategy is built by people who start from what they can move now, not from what they're waiting to be given. The mindset precedes the plan.
After K. Ohmae's model, in Strategic Management (NSTU Press, 2022).
Insight 06
Twenty-three centuries ago Sun Tzu wrote that the highest skill isn't winning every battle — it's breaking the opponent's plan before the battle begins. Competitive strategy borrows the same logic: the strongest move is rarely a head-to-head fight on price or features. It's changing the game so your competitor's plan no longer works.
After Sun Tzu & "Blue Ocean", in Strategic Management (NSTU Press, 2022).
Put it to work
These ideas shape how I approach strategy work. If they resonate, we can discuss where they fit your current decisions.
Discuss a projectOr read the full textbook (PDF)