The Hallmarks of Bad Strategy

...a growing profusion of bad strategy...


The term bad strategy was coined by Richard Rumelt in 2007 at a Washington, DC, seminar on national-security strategy. His role was to provide a business and corporate-strategy perspective. The participants expected, that his remarks would detail the seriousness and growing competence with which business strategy was created. Using words and slides, He told the group that many businesses did have powerful, effective strategies.

But he also saw a growing profusion of bad strategy. In the process, he created a list of the key hallmarks of bad strategy to four points:

• the failure to face the challenge
• mistaking goals for strategy
• bad strategic objectives
• fluff.

ACTION POINT: Know what bad strategy consists of and avoid it.