The Art Of The Strategist

From ancient battlefields to the modern business landscape, competitors have tried innumerable approaches to conquering adversaries. Success for the victors has taken many forms and traveled many paths, but at its heart, winning strategy can be boiled down to ten universal principles. When learned and implemented, these principals become powerful drivers of business excellence. Renowned strategy expert William A. Cohen, whose considerable experience in the military, corporate, and academic sectors forms the basis for The Art of the Strategist, presents the timeless lessons of: * commitment to a definite objective * seizing and maintaining the initiative * economization to mass (concentration of resources) * positioning * surprise * multiple simultaneous alternatives * the indirect approach * simplicity * timing * exploiting success With examples including the conquests of Hannibal and Alexander the Great, the political triumphs of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the business successes of internet giant VeriSign and other high-profile companies, The Art of the Strategist proves how superior strategy trumps other factors in almost every competitive arena. The ten lessons in turn form a roadmap to decisive victory in business.

Since its original publication by McGraw-hill almost 10 years ago, this best-selling guide to the inner workings of Japanese strategic thinking has become an acknowledged classic. Kenichi Ohmae a business strategist of international renown provides a Compelling account of the reasons why companies dominate the global processes and planning techniques, why they work, and how companies can benefit from focusing on the three essential elements of any strategic plan: company customer and competition. Replete with numerous illustrative case histories of strategic thinking in action, Ohmae s classic work continues to inspire managers at all levels to new heights of bold, imaginative strategic thinking.

Super Strategist: The Art and Science of Modern Account Planning is the only modern guide to advertising’s arguably most vital discipline, that has been written with the passion of someone who’s found their calling and the wisdom of an industry veteran who is still actively leading strategy in a large, modern, full-service agency. Super Strategist is full of practical advice for newcomers and usable strategies and insights for experienced planners, or anyone with an interest in the discipline. Readers will find clear outlines of the role of account planners within an agency, including step-by-step plans to achieve success with clients large and small: how to conduct modern consumer research, develop and implement the creative brief, use data skillfully to protect and improve great work, and use all of these tools and more to influence the feather in the planner’s cap—the customer journey. Whether it’s called account planning, brand planning, strategic planning, or creative strategy, the goal is the same: to inspire brilliant work that is backed by rigor and data. Creative is still king, but in today’s fractured markets clients need to know their multi-million-dollar campaigns are supported by up-to-the-minute research and data-driven insights. Account planners ensure, as Douglas Atkins puts it in the foreword, that the work is idea-led, but consumer-informed. To find that perfect balance of art and science, the successful account planner is “X-shaped”: experienced in digital, social, communications and brand strategy, comfortable in creative and quantitative disciplines—a Super Strategist who is the fulcrum of any successful agency.

A novel integration and extension of two global strategy classics: Sun Tzu's military strategy and Michael Porter's business strategy.

Thinking strategically is what separates managers and leaders. Learn the fundamentals about how to create winning strategy and lead your team to deliver it. From understanding what strategy can do for you, through to creating a strategy and engaging others with strategy, this book offers practical guidance and expert tips. It is peppered with punchy, memorable examples from real leaders winning (and losing) with real world strategies. It can be read as a whole or you can dip into the easy-to-read, bite-size sections as and when you need to deal with a particular issue. The structure has been specially designed to make sections quick and easy to use – you’ll find yourself referring back to them again and again.

Strategy is about identifying why your business matters, not just analysing the competition. Cynthia Montgomery reveals how leaders can embrace the crucial role of The Strategist to really define and drive the objectives and advantages to power their companies forward.

“I am hard pressed to think of another book that can match the combination of practical insights and reading enjoyment.”—Steven Levitt Game theory means rigorous strategic thinking. It’s the art of anticipating your opponent’s next moves, knowing full well that your rival is trying to do the same thing to you. Though parts of game theory involve simple common sense, much is counterintuitive, and it can only be mastered by developing a new way of seeing the world. Using a diverse array of rich case studies—from pop culture, TV, movies, sports, politics, and history—the authors show how nearly every business and personal interaction has a game-theory component to it. Mastering game theory will make you more successful in business and life, and this lively book is the key to that mastery.

The must-read summary of William Cohen's book: "The Art of the Strategist: 10 Essential Principles for Leading Your Company to Victory". This complete summary of the ideas from William Cohen's book "The Art of the Strategist" shows how having a superior strategy is the only way to win in business. In his book, the author uses his experience in the military, corporate and academic sectors to provide the reader with several lessons that will teach them how to form the perfect strategy. By reading this summary, you will be able to learn and adapt these lessons and apply them to your own business in order to come out on top. Added-value of this summary: • Save time • Understand key concepts • Expand your knowledge To learn more, read "The Art of the Strategist" and discover the key to creating a killer business strategy.

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy clarifies the muddled thinking underlying too many strategies and provides a clear way to create and implement a powerful action-oriented strategy for the real world. Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader. A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to—and approach for—overcoming the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect. Yet, Rumelt shows that there has been a growing and unfortunate tendency to equate Mom-and-apple-pie values, fluffy packages of buzzwords, motivational slogans, and financial goals with “strategy.” In Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, he debunks these elements of “bad strategy” and awakens an understanding of the power of a “good strategy.” He introduces nine sources of power—ranging from using leverage to effectively focusing on growth—that are eye-opening yet pragmatic tools that can easily be put to work on Monday morning, and uses fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original and pragmatic ideas to life. The detailed examples range from Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from Nvidia to Silicon Graphics, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Cisco Systems to Paccar, and from Global Crossing to the 2007–08 financial crisis. Reflecting an astonishing grasp and integration of economics, finance, technology, history, and the brilliance and foibles of the human character, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy stems from Rumelt’s decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity.