Strategy: A History - by
Lawrence Freedman ISBN: 978-0190229238
How strongly I recommend it: 10/10
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About the book Strategy: a history, written by
Sir Lawrence Freedman is exceptionally long and big book. Take this fact into consideration, if you decide to read this giant piece of work. However, I think it is a must read book for every person who is interested in strategic thinking or who wants to improve this skill. The book will give you a really good experience that you need to collect in many years of trials and errors. As the title states, it is about strategy, how it has been forming as a science and art throughout history and how it has been shaping various events and processes in various fields of human endeavor. This book is not a manual for strategy, but rather a historical, description of people’s attempts to think about future and realize their goals in detailed and entertaining form.
Author divided the book into four sections: War, Politics, Business and Social sciences. Every section of the book presents detailed account of key intellectuals and practitioners’ works on strategy. Readers may find abundant number of strategy cases derived from history, politics, economy, psychology, geography, logistics, and linguistics. All these multitude of cases makes the book unique collection of knowledge base on the topic.
What I have learned from the book In general, I gained good grasp of strategy studies field and made a few discoveries that I am presenting as lessons I learned from the book. Considering colossal size and abundance of lessons, ideas and techniques presented in the book, I decided to share only key ideas that resonated with me and pass on the rest, since all ideas and theories are too much for one post. Depending on feedback, maybe I will write second continuation review (lesson learned) post. So, here we go.
1. Definition of strategy Nowadays almost everyone needs a strategy. Governments, corporations, sports teams, startups and even individuals need a strategy for reaching their goals. Having no strategy can be deemed as unserious and irresponsible act. Thus whatever events, projects or objectives people have, they formulate and pursue strategies.However, notwithstanding this trend to have a strategy, there is no commonly accepted definition of strategy that can describe field and limits of this activity. Strategy is very loaded and vague term like power, politics, happiness or love. Mr. Freedman, noted one frequently used definition of strategy which is maintaining a balance between ends, ways, and means; identifying objective and using available resources in the most effective way possible to reach the objective. In plain English, I started to think of strategy as 1) goal setting, 2) analyzing environment conditions and my resources, 3) choosing most effect method to reach my set goal, 4) taking action and course correcting along the way depending on results.
2. Strategy is not a plan Many people, including me in recent past, think of strategy and plan as the same thing. I used to think that, formulating strategy and plan are very similar activities, so these words are synonyms and stand for the same activity. However, there is a considerable difference between strategy and plan. Subtle factors that differentiate strategy from plan are conflict and controllable environment. In whatever situation where you will face a conflict of interests and compete for the same objectives with other actors, you formulate a strategy. In contrast, if you decide to bake a cake this weekend in your kitchen and no one will hinder you, then you come up with a plan and bake the cake. You choose what kind of cake you want, find money for it, buy ingredients from a store and you bake it. In contrast to this, a strategy is formulated to reach an objective in future which is not so easily achievable, while you know approximately what kind of a day will be this weekend; accordingly you control your weekend and plan baking delicious cake.
3. Strategy is both, science and art Strategy is a realm between science and art, but it is neither complete science nor art. Throughout the book, you will learn about various strategy intellectuals and practitioners’ (
Clausewitz,
Machiavelli,
Corbet,
Porter etc.) attempts to formulate theories that can help to reach set objectives. Nevertheless, all given theories have limits and cannot give predictable results every time. Yet, despite this, one may consider strategy as a science, even if it has only few well established theories. In addition to this, strategy takes ideas from history, psychology, economy, logistics, geography and other sciences, therefore it is considered as a science. What makes strategy an art? Creativity and improvisation on given situation make it a form of art. There is no checklist of activities that guarantee reaching set objectives. Every situation is unique, as a result, a person is required to be creative and improvise in all situations to reach set goals. Predictable strategy is not a strategy, since other actors will know your actions and prevent you from reaching your set objectives. Since you cannot use same trick twice, as you become predictable, you are forced to improvise and create new ways of competing and reaching your goals every time.
4. You will work with incomplete information and simple plans all the time Right from start of conceiving your strategy, till reaching certain goal, you will face a “
fog of war” and “
friction” as Carl von Clausewitz wrote. Our environment and the world in general are too complex to comprehend and predict. We have limited cognitive scope, thus we cannot have complete information about situation and intentions of other actors. Consequently, it is preferable to choose few decisive factors for analysis and ignore the rest. Few key factors and actors should be enough for making good enough decisions. Moreover, all plans should be as simple as possible, plans that have too many details and moving parts are more likely to fail and give no results. In view of limited resources, reaching zero or negative results is really bad.
5. Social, interpersonal and persuasion skills are essential for strategy While reading the book, you may notice frequent use of the word persuasion at describing situations and people’s actions. In order to reach objectives, one needs to sell out his/her ideas to others, induce key actors to help or take actions for reaching the objectives of the actor who presented these ideas. Whether it is
Moses,
Pericles,
Odysseus,
Lawrence, or
Mao, all of these actors used social, interpersonal, debating and persuasion skills for spreading their ideas, gaining followers, changing minds of people, making people take actions to reach (commonly) set objectives. If you do not have good social skills, a charisma (I think a person either has it or does not have it) and persuasion skills, it will be very difficult to realize your strategy. If you have all these skills, then it will be much easier to make friends, influence on other people and form coalitions to reach your goals. Cooperation and coalitions will ease your work a lot and increase your chance to reach your goals.
6. Narratives play important role at formulating strategy In last parts of the book, Mr. Freedman presented studies demonstrating crucial role of narratives and stories at realizing strategy. On a grand scale, narratives and stories play key role at persuading masses and changing their minds about certain issues. In one form, narratives can be considered as information campaigns that polarize people and make them take sides regarding certain issues. This is a huge soft power for manipulating masses. This idea of narratives and stories sound sly and unethical; however people are persuaded by stories and believe in them. Stories can be used in both positive and negative ways. One can use it to unite and motivate teams for reaching goals or it can be used to direct people’s opinions to certain idea. In any case, I was moved by this idea, this lesson made me to pay more attention to news and stories portrayed in the media and my own beliefs. I started to question my own beliefs and assumptions about various events and the world. My thinking is shaped by my own internal story that I tell myself, I guess it is worth to spend time thinking about one’s own internal dialogue.
7. People are not always rational, thus predictable actors According to economic theories, people are rational and predictable actors. They are motivated by self-interest and try to increase their benefits. This is an ideal and complete depiction of people who are economic agents who pursue only their own interests. Sociology and Psychology demonstrate the opposite of this theory, in particular, game theory cases noted in the book, showed that people are not mathematically precise enough at pursuing their interests. In some cases, such as chicken game, when two drivers drive against each other, actors are completely irrational. A person who will swerve first will be perceived as coward. Thus, from such calculation, end result of chicken game may end fatal for all drivers who will take part in this game. Now imagine such situation with governments that have nuclear weapons. Consequences of nuclear explosion are indescribable in my opinion. State officials that know the consequences of nuclear bomb explosion avoid using this weapon at all costs. On the other hand, game theoretic situations, like case of chicken game are too complex and terrifying to think about. You never cannot predict other actors’ actions, because they are not like you, they are different people with different culture, values and beliefs.
8. Actors use methods that work, not methods that comply with ethics Few cases that came in the book led me to think that, at certain point to reach set objective, a person may be forced to make compromise with his/her moral standards. For instance, case of chimpanzees and ants show how these species use various violent methods for reaching their objectives. These studies showed that ultimately, all goals were about survival, having access to more resources and opportunities for better future.
Chimpanzees used slyness, coalition and methodical use of aggression for reaching their goals. Abundance of resources did not stop them. Ants, on the other hand, were/are completely unkind to their neighbors for having more resources and territory. Similar condition also was given in
Athens versus
Sparta conflict, especially
The Melian dialogue about statements of the strong and condition of the weak demonstrate that notions like of justice, equality are artificial matters (unfortunately), but one always has an option to act based on high ethical standards. The work of Niccolo Machiavelli, “
The Prince,” infamously appeals to be cunning, and use any means including amoral actions for keeping power. Interesting part is that, actors often use methods that work, not methods that comply with ethics. I have limited knowledge on ethics, therefore decided not to touch this delicate topic at all. It is up to every person, to act based on his/her values and beliefs.
9. It is great to have strategy, but there is no guarantee of success Formulating strategy is important, but it is extremely difficult to reach your ultimate objectives. I was little bit disappointed to learn that most of our efforts are futile and we are almost likely will fail a lot at our endeavors to reach our goals. However, this lesson was the best I got from the book. Now I know that, strategy is important but, it does not guarantee success, notwithstanding my best efforts. In view of this experience, I am going to be careful in my actions. Strategy is not about reaching my ultimate goals; it is about reaching better conditions instead of reaching worse situation any without strategy. Strategy is not one step plan, it is a soap opera that is shifting from one stage to another one, in every stage you strive to make your best to have good condition and come close to your ultimate goal with knowledge and creativity.
Here is the book review by the author himself in Google's office:
Other article and posts about the book: The Guardian:
Strategy: A History by Lawrence Freedman - review World Economic Forum:
Book review - Strategy: A History The Washington Post:
'Strategy: A History' by Lawrence Freedman Financial Times:
Strategy: A History, by Lawrence Freedman
