Resources are often first thought of as “things” — minerals in the ground, oil, a stand of timber, land.  It is accepted that resources can also include things that are less tangible:  time, ideas, knowledge, intellectual property, even relationships.  And possibly even more importantly, resources can encompass things that are very intangible — mental energy,… Continue reading Attention and Focus – A Case Study: The Battle of Britain

There are inspiring examples of strategy all around us.  Some are explicit and self-proclaimed while others are hidden, or buried, in the fabric and patterns of the world.  While the latter may turn out to be the most profound, the recorded thoughts of prior students of strategy can offer insights that can have more immediate… Continue reading Masters of Strategy

This time, I want to examine a current event in the context of strategy.   First, some background. On Monday, November 15, 2021, the Defence Ministry of Russia launched a ground-based missile which destroyed a long-defunct Russian satellite in orbit.  The satellite had ceased operating in 1982.  Russian missile, Russian (Soviet) satellite . . . … Continue reading Strategic Denial of Resources

The Mosquito is such a remarkable strategy case study that I will keep coming back to it for different reasons.  Beyond being a brilliant example of the power of a strong, single-minded focus, and in addition to its graphic lessons of virtuous versus vicious cycles in design, the story of the Mosquito includes another profound… Continue reading Side-stepping Limits on Resources:  The de Havilland Mosquito

If strategy is about the allocation of resources, it follows that concepts of strategy will be important anywhere decisions about how to allocate resources are important.  The greater or more difficult the constraints, or the higher the stakes, the more revealing the choices and responses.   In war, the stakes are ultimate.  Survival.  And when… Continue reading Strategy without guns: Non-military sources of inspiration

According to Google, the word “tactic” is defined as:  – noun:  an action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end.   This definition confuses the meanings of the words “strategy” and tactic.”  The words strategy and tactics are often found being used interchangeably, almost synonymously, as if they have the same meaning.  They… Continue reading Strategy vs Tactics

. . . Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference.”  — Robert Frost So, if “Strategy is the art of allocating resources to achieve a goal,” or in other words, strategy is choosing how to use what we’ve got to… Continue reading Choosing — The Art of Deciding What To Do

. There’s a worn cliché that pops up in discussions of strategy.  “Amateurs talk strategy.  Professionals talk logistics.” — U.S. General Omar Bradley (although he may have been quoting Napoleon) It points to the importance of getting needed resources to where they are needed.  But, logistics and resources are not the same thing.    Logistics… Continue reading Resources: What We’ve Got

(When I thought about what I wanted to address and clarify, I expected “Goals” to an easy one.  Marching off straight down the clear road toward the “idea” of goals, I was surprised to almost immediately find myself in a swamp of philosophical proportions!  I quickly retreated onto little quotable islands of platitudes and truisms… Continue reading Goals

As much as it might be satisfying to my ego to be able to post profound pronouncements of the TRUTH, that would immediately be untrue.  So, this is a reminder, that these notes are an exploration — something of a journey of discovery.  And, as I expect I will do often, I will not only… Continue reading Wandering