HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Strategy (Vol.2)
Various Contributors
Harvard Business Review Press (March 2020)

“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”  Michael Porter:

This book is a long-overdue companion to a volume first published in 2011 in a series that anthologizes what the editors of the Harvard Business Review consider to be “must reads” in a given business subject area. In this instance, strategy. Each of the selections is eminently deserving of inclusion.

If all of the eleven articles were purchased separately as reprints, the total cost would be about $100 and the practical value of any one of them far exceeds that. Given the fact that Amazon US now sells this volume for only $17.27, that’s quite a bargain.

The same is true of volumes in other series such as HBR Guide to…, Harvard Business Review on…, and Harvard Business Essentials. I also think there is great benefit derived from the convenience of having a variety of perspectives and insights readily available in a single volume, one that is potable.

In all of the volumes in the HBR’s 10 Must Read series that I have read thus far, the authors and their HBR editors make skillful use of several reader-friendly devices that include “Idea in Brief” and “Idea in Action” sections, checklists with and without bullet points, boxed mini-commentaries (some of which are “guest” contributions from other sources), and graphic charts and diagrams that consolidate especially valuable information. These and other devices facilitate, indeed accelerate frequent review of key material later.

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As indicated, there are eleven articles in this book, including one “bonus” classic: “Creating Shared Value” by Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer. Those who read HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Strategy (Vol. 2) will have the cutting-edge thinking needed to formulate “the right strategy to lead their company into the future.”

More specifically, they will learn the dos and don’ts with regard to how to

o Formulate a strategy that will give any other strategy much greater impact
o Gain and then sustain the “transient advantage”
o Bring science to the art of strategy
o Manage risks within “A New Framework”
o Survive disruption
o Develop “The Great Repeatable Business Model”
o Understand and coordinate the pipelines, platforms, and new rules of strategy
o Understand how and why the lean start-up “changes everything”
o Make strategic thinking more creative
NOTE: A more effective “hammer” that will drive “nails” (tactics) with much greater impact
o Ensure that every strategy is purpose-driven
o Develop strategies that create much wider and much deeper value for everyone involved

Here are two other points with which to conclude. First, there are no “leadership issues.” Rather, there are only [begin italics] business [end italics] issues. Here are two key questions: “Which problems must be solved?” and  “Which questions must be answered?” Peter Drucker once observed,  “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.”

And now the second point: Whatever their size and nature may be, all organizations need full support of the given strategy at ALL levels and in ALL areas of their enterprise. That is, people who understand what must be done and then do it to ensure the success of their organization’s strategy.