“A strategy coordinates action to address a specific challenge.” – Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters
Richard Rumelt’s landmark book, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, emerged from decades of experience as a scholar, consultant, and observer of strategy in action—across industries, governments, and militaries. The quote above crystallizes one of Rumelt’s core convictions: that real strategy is not a set of grand aspirations or vague intentions, but a focused response to concrete obstacles.
Rumelt’s insight was shaped by seeing how organizations often confuse strategic thinking with lists of goals, motivational slogans, or buzzword-laden visions. He observed a widespread tendency—especially in leadership settings—to treat strategy as a document filled with optimistic targets, rather than a rigorous approach that wrestles with reality. In his research and consulting, Rumelt noticed that many well-meaning efforts failed because leaders avoided the hard work of facing problems head-on, opting instead for what he calls “bad strategy”: rhetoric, platitudes, and generic plans that skirt the real issues.
In Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, Rumelt lays out a powerful counterpoint. For him, every effective strategy starts with a clear-eyed diagnosis of the situation. This is followed by a guiding policy—a theory of what will work—and finally a set of coherent actions that marshal resources to address the genuine challenge at hand. The quote underscores this process: strategy is fundamentally about coordinated action directed at a specific challenge, not just a wish-list or a catchphrase.
Rumelt’s ideas are illustrated with vivid examples, from Apple’s turnaround to the strategic blunders and successes of military campaigns, making the book practical and engaging for leaders across sectors. His message is as much about intellectual honesty as tactical acumen—reminding readers that the heart of strategy beats where analysis, choice, and action meet.
About Richard Rumelt
Richard Rumelt is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost thinkers on strategy. He serves as a professor emeritus at UCLA Anderson School of Management and has consulted for leading corporations and public institutions worldwide. Rumelt’s early research challenged the prevailing “structure-conduct-performance” paradigm in economics, helping to pioneer the modern field of strategic management.
Beyond academia, Rumelt’s reputation comes from his sharp, practical analyses and his insistence on facing facts. In interviews and writings, he dismisses the notion that strategy is just about setting big goals or adopting best practices. Instead, he emphasizes that strategy requires identifying the pivotal challenges that stand in the way of success and crafting coordinated approaches to overcome them. Rumelt’s ideas have profoundly influenced how leaders approach problem-solving, making him a central voice in contemporary strategy discussions.
His enduring lesson is clear: strategy is not a luxury or a buzzword, but the discipline of coordinated action in the face of challenge—a theme at the core of his work, and powerfully summarized in the quote featured today.
