Business Strategy in a Nutshell
A Not So Serious Take on the History of a Simple Idea Made Oh So Complex Today
Okay. Let’s be honest — really honest! When it comes to talking about the history of strategy, especially when the speaker or writer is someone like myself, a strategic management professor and consultant, the topic can often get dry — well, very dry — quite quickly. No matter how good the PowerPoints may be and how many graphical touches one can throw into the presentation or the article, the audience just sees a constant thread of guys — yes, mostly guys (Sorry, not being misogynistic, just reporting here…) — saying, in essence, “Well, here’s how to do things…”
Throughout most of human history, people just did things… and sometimes great, massive, important things! And yet, until very recent times, relatively speaking, people just did them! Generals won battles. Leaders led countries. Politicians got things done for the people (OK, well, as the great modern philosopher Meatloaf famously sang in his seminal work, Bat Out of Hell, “Now don’t be sad, cause two out of three ain’t bad…”).