Recommended by  Larry Norton

Rumelt is not a well-known strategist (a good thing).

His book should haunt every consultant. It struck me that we’ve all enabled bad strategy – sitting silently while clients confuse “customer-centric value creation” with actual thinking, or watching executives produce 47-point “strategic plans” that commit to nothing. His diagnosis is brutal but accurate: most organizations don’t have strategies; they have fluff. They have wish lists dressed up as hockey-stick projections. He gives a few poignant examples. When International Harvester ignored its labor crisis, or when Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) tried to pursue three contradictory paths simultaneously, leadership failed. Often, so did their consultants. He discusses the “kemel of good strategy” – diagnosis, guiding policy, coherent actions.

Real strategic work means forcing difficult trade-offs, not building consensus documents that satisfy everyone. Our consulting job isn’t cheerleading or facilitating groupthink. It’s creating conditions for success by clearly identifying leverage points. When a client’s “strategy” is merely motivational theater, our job is to say so. Strategy requires choice, focus, and the courage to strip away the fluff — starting with our own.