The Diagnosis

An especially insightful diagnosis an transform one's view of the situation, bringing a radically different perspective to bear. 

A great deal of strategy work is trying to figure out what is going on.  Not just deciding what to do, but the more fundamental problem of comprehending the situation.At a minimum, a diagnosis names or classifies the situation, linking facts into patterns and suggesting that more attention be paid to some issues and less to others.

An especially insightful diagnosis an transform one's view of the situation, bringing a radically different perspective to bear. When a diagnosis classifies the situation as a certain type, it opens access to knowledge about how analogous situations were handled in the past.  An explicit diagnosis permits one to evaluate the rest of the strategy.  Additionally, making the diagnosis an explicit element of the strategy allows the rest of the strategy to be revisited and changed as circumstances change. 

ACTION POINT: Develop strategic diagnosis by focusing on what is going on.