Max Mckeown

“The real heart of strategy is the strategist.”

“Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win.”

“All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation.”

“Doing nothing requires effort. Over time, that effort is greater than the effort necessary to improve, or move somewhere better. The trick is to redirect energy.”

“There are no perfect leaders.”

“Change is inevitable, progress is not.”

“Strategy and culture should have breakfast together.”

“Following the rules of your industry will only get you so far.”

“With a clever strategy, each action is self-reinforcing. Each action creates more options that are mutually beneficial. Each victory is not just for today but for tomorrow.”

“A great strategy meeting is a meeting of minds.”

“Brilliant strategy is the best route to desirable ends with available means.”

“Strategy is not really a solo sport – even if you’re the CEO.”

“Give serious thought to why your company should care about your strategy. Specifically, find problems that the board wants to be solved. What are senior managers scared of? Part of becoming a credible strategic thinker is learning effective approaches to selling ideas for your situation. You’ll know that you’re getting better at selling (or pitching) strategy when managers start coming to you when there is strategic thinking to be done.”

“Corporate strategy is usually only useful if you get people engaged with helping you to make it work.”

“Strategy is about out-thinking your competition. Mark Zuckerberg, while at Harvard, built a website called Facemash ‘for fun’. Even today, Facebook believe that ‘done is better than perfect’.”

“The smart strategist allows strategy to be shaped by events. Good reactions can make great strategy. Strategy involves competition of goals, and the risk is the difference between those goals and the ability of the organization to achieve them. So part of the risk is created by the strategy.”

“Strategy was first used in Athens (508 BC) to describe the art of leadership used by the ten generals on the war council. Some argue for the more creative, human side, while others argue for the more analytic side of strategy.”

“Strategy is about shaping the future.”