Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In 1805, off the southwest coast of Spain, thirty-three French and Spanish ships met twenty-seven British ones. Doctrine said both lines should stay parallel and trade broadsides. Nelson drove two columns perpendicularly into the enemy line instead, betting that in the heavy swell the less-trained Franco-Spanish gunners couldn’t compensate. The enemy lost twenty-two ships; Britain lost none. That is Richard Rumelt’s strategy in one picture — a judgment about which one or two things in a situation actually matter, then action concentrated there. It doesn’t take a thick deck of slides.

Richard Rumelt on SummaryShelf

Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters