The whole category in one page.
STRATEGY IS A SET OF CHOICES ABOUT WHERE YOU COMPETE AND WHY YOU WIN — NOT A TARGET OR AN AMBITION
A strategy that excludes nothing is not a strategy, and if a choice costs you nothing to make, it was not a choice.
ASK CUSTOMERS WHY THEY CHOSE YOU, AND ASK THE ONES WHO DIDN'T WHY NOT
If your customers cannot state a reason, you do not yet have a difference — and the second question yields the most useful information available, which almost nobody collects.
MEASURE MARGIN BY CUSTOMER AFTER THE COST OF SERVING THEM
Large customers are frequently unprofitable and the business does not know. Capacity spent on them is capacity unavailable for better ones.
GROWTH MAGNIFIES EXISTING PROBLEMS — IT DOES NOT SOLVE THEM
Weak margins, poor collection and operational disorder all get worse at scale. Fix them first, and decide whether you actually want what growth brings.
MEASURE WHAT PROPORTION OF REVENUE COMES FROM YOUR LARGEST CUSTOMER
Concentration costs you pricing power and negotiating position long before anything goes wrong. Ask what would happen tomorrow if they stopped.
WHEN RESULTS MISS THE PLAN, CHECK WHETHER THE ACTIONS WERE ACTUALLY DONE BEFORE CHANGING DIRECTION
Most failures are execution, and changing a sound strategy makes things worse.
DECIDE REVERSIBLE THINGS QUICKLY AND IRREVERSIBLE THINGS CAREFULLY, BECAUSE DELIBERATING OVER THE FIRST COSTS MORE THAN THE ERROR WOULD
EFFORT ALREADY SPENT IS IRRELEVANT TO WHETHER CONTINUING IS WORTHWHILE FROM TODAY
AND EXPLAIN THE REASONING, NOT JUST THE DECISION, SO PEOPLE CAN CHOOSE CONSISTENTLY IN SITUATIONS YOU NEVER ANTICIPATED
