The Science of Strategy

A new strategy is, in the language of science, a hypothesis, and its implementation is an experiment.

Good strategy is built on functional knowledge about what works, what doesn't, and why.  Generally available functional knowledge is essential, but because it is available to all, it can rarely be decisive.  The most precious functional knowledge is proprietary, available only to your organization.

An organization creates pools of proprietary functional knowledge by actively exploring its chosen arena in a process called scientific empiricism.  Good strategy rests on a hard-won base of such knowledge, and any new strategy presents the opportunity to generate it.  A new strategy is, in the language of science, a hypothesis, and its implementation is an experiment.   As results appear, good leaders learn more about what does and doesn't work and adjust their strategies accordingly.

ACTION POINT: Look for the pools of knowledge within your organization to identify what does and does not work, then adjust.