It contended, “All too much of what is put forward as strategy is not. The basic problem is confusion between strategy and strategic goals.

Like Harvester’s, they do not identify and come to grips with the fundamental obstacles and problems that stand in the organization’s way. Looking at most of this product, or listening to the managers who have produced it, you will find an almost total lack of strategic thinking. Instead, you will find high-sounding sentiments together with plans to spend more and somehow “get better.

Unless leadership offers a theory of why things haven’t worked in the past, or why the challenge is difficult, it is hard to generate good strategy.

A strategy coordinates action to address a specific challenge.

Facing a complex situation like this makes most people uncomfortable. The more seriously you take it, the more you will see it as a real and difficult challenge that requires a coherent response. And that realization will, in turn, make you even more uncomfortable.