business war games

Between You and Glory by Mark Chussil Good news! There are only two obstacles between you and glory for your startup. Bad news. The first obstacle is your competitors. Worse news. The second obstacle is your investors, who don’t want to hear about the first ob­stacle. Good news! There’s hope despite your competitors and investors. […]

Some of these essays are about competitive strategy and strategic thinking; some are not. “Are Capitalists Copping Out?” “We Will Play Soothing, Uninterrupted Music While You Wait.” “The Formerly United States of America.” And more.

How do upstarts win? Why do incumbents lose? Upstarts can only win if incumbents let themselves lose.

The outcome was not only to resolve the classic conflict of top-management stretch goals versus product-management practicality. It was also to preclude the equally classic conflict that comes later, the one about underperforming versus overexpecting.

J.C. Penney doesn’t have the performance it wants, Mr. Johnson has been tarred and “pundited” as a failure, employees and investors are dispirited, and customers are baffled. Help wanted: CEO.

Many executives unconsciously assume competitors have MBAs and behave “rationally.” Those assumptions were never true, but today it matters that they’re not true. It will matter even more in a more-global tomorrow.

Business war games, in my experience, provide outstanding insights that greatly impact bottom lines. But why? What is it about business war games that produces insights that evidently elude other approaches?

This is something I’ve learned from all those war games: Watch out for the war metaphor in your strategic thinking, and challenge it if you see it. The challenge doesn’t cost you anything. You can always go back to the war metaphor if you really think it works.

People whisper to horses, dogs, and (according to TV) ghosts. Why not models? The model whisperer — perhaps you, savvy strategist — gently, wisely guides models into shape and helps them achieve fulfillment as oracles of your business’ future. (#3 in a series)

What can we learn about business diagnosis from TV’s nastiest doctor? Quite a bit. We take a look at Safeway and Supervalu pricing on our rounds.