Strategy is for Winners
The important thing in Strategy is not to compete but to triumph. After all, business is a battleground, not a playground; only the strategic emerge as victors. Here are the distilled lessons from four seminal books on how to win through strategy:
"Playing to Win": Aim Beyond Participation
Roger Martin is clear: merely being in the market isn't enough. For true success, a company needs a 'Winning Aspiration' not just to serve its chosen customers, but to win with them.
"To play merely to participate is self-defeating. It is a recipe for mediocrity. Winning is what matters."
"Strategy That Works": Harness Your Unique Capabilities
Paul Leinwand emphasizes how to create a 'right-to-win': understanding where your unique capabilities give you a coherent undeniable advantage that ensures sustained, consistent victories.
"A right to win provides the consistent ability to compete more effectively than your competitors, in the arenas where you choose to do business."
"Good Strategy Bad Strategy": Uncover the Power of Leverage
Richard Rumelt argues that the strategic linchpin is leverage. Winning comes from the anticipation, the deep insight into pivotal elements of a situation, and the concentrated application of effort.
"Winning businesses are those with offerings most preferred by customers. Size is the consequence, not the cause of success."
"Certain to Win": Embrace Strategic Agility
Chet Richards highlights the power of OODA in business strategy. Dominant players have strategies that can out-think and out-maneuver competitors through rapid decision and operation loops.
"Winners are able to make things happen that their opponents may even anticipate, but much faster than they expect it to happen."
In conclusion, business strategy is the art of winning before even playing. Remember Sun Tzu: "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." So let's all play business to win.