The three kinds of leverage that anchor effective strategies
“Leverage” means generating a large effect from a relatively small effort, created by riding tailwinds of natural abilities or hard-won assets, rather than fighting a battle for which you are ill-equipped.
^ADJ: Great article on strategy, one thing that particularly resonates with me: "Finally, in a crowded competitive space, it’s possible that no single thing is completely unique, much less durable. A combination of multiple things taken together can be both differentiated and durable, so long as the constituents form a mutually-reinforcing, cohesive structure, in which a competitor who successfully copied a fraction of the structure will still not have created a similar product" Southwest Airlines used as an example, with an Activity Map of the factors that make up Southwest - worth thinking about!
Further reading: What is Strategy - Michael Porter
You Need More Metrics
The value of data is mostly in answering and organizing around four fundamental questions:
- What is happening in our business?
- Why is it happening?
- What’s going to happen next?
- What should we do about it?
^ADJ: Often dashboards are good at telling us about what has happened, but we fail to take full advantage of the power of analytics that we now have, to help us with the Why, Next and what should we do about it.
Further Reading: Analytics for Marketers
How to Do Great Work
The first step is to decide what to work on. The work you choose needs to have three qualities: it has to be something you have a natural aptitude for, that you have a deep interest in, and that offers scope to do great work.
^ADJ: It is the school holidays, so I gave Mr Y9 and Ms Y11 the task of summarising an article that I thought would make a difference to them, and I think this is another that would be well worthwhile!
Key takeout: "Great work usually entails spending what would seem to most people an unreasonable amount of time on a problem. You can't think of this time as a cost, or it will seem too high. You have to find the work sufficiently engaging as it's happening."
This 30-Year Harvard Study Reveals 5 Daily Habits Can Add 12 to 14 Years to Your Life (and Cut Your Risk of Alzheimer's in Half)
You give your all to building your business, and you’re in it for the long haul: Working hard to serve your customers and create a future for your employees. You make decisions and take actions today that will pay off in the years to come.
That premise should extend to making sure you take do things to take care of yourself — physically and mentally — as you build your business.
^ADJ: Quick Takeout - everything in moderation except for smoking
The Death of Secret Intelligence? Think Again
While the Ukraine war has seen an explosion in the collection and distribution of open source intelligence, the work of secret intelligence agencies remains as important as ever.
^ADJ: Interesting: "secret intelligence ‘seeks – whether by unearthing specific nuggets of information, or by building up patterns of understanding to help our ability to interpret what we observe – to offset gaps, uncertainties and distortions in what we can find openly’."