Strategy and opposites. Nice idea: when you have formulated your strategy, consider its opposite. If it sounds ridiculous or vacuous, try again. Example: "delight our customers" vs "make our customers hate us".
A simple test for your strategic initiatives
Richard Rummelt, in Good Strategy / Bad Strategy, opened my eyes to a simple test to help you see if you have effective strategic initiatives. But before I describe the test here's some context.
Crafting a strategy involves choosing a course of action to achieve desired outcomes over a set time period. An effective strategy makes real choices between competing approaches–as well as providing space for new possibilities to emerge. For example a company's might want to increase its market sha…