From the library
Richard Rumelt, 2022
In one paragraph
Rumelt's follow-up narrows to the single move that matters: finding the crux, the one obstacle that is both important and addressable. The contribution is the argument that most strategy work fails by treating every problem as equally live. Most useful when facing a tangle of issues and unable to choose. Least useful if you want a process, since the central skill is judgement and Rumelt is candid that it does not reduce to steps.
Where this sits in the operating system
Focus & Essentialism
Focus & Essentialism
Systems Over Goals
Mental Models & Decision Frameworks
Key insights
The crux is the obstacle that is both important and addressable. Most strategy fails by treating every problem as equally live.
Diagnosis before ambition. Goals set before the crux is identified are wishes with numbers attached.
Rumelt is candid that this is judgement and does not reduce to a process, which is unusual in the genre.
Recognise it early
The failure and the correction sit side by side deliberately. Read the left column asking whether any of it is already true of you.
Goals as “strategy”
Too many priorities
Vague policy
Incoherent initiatives
Static plan in a dynamic world
The same idea, argued differently
Geoffrey Moore
Frank Slootman
Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths
The full breakdown
Before you close this
Naming the specific moment you will act roughly doubles the odds you do.
Reference
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