Hello! I am the aforementioned friend. I guess part of the problem is the deliberate narrowing-in of scope that the book proposes (see the Diagnosis summary above). To some degree, this narrowing of scope is a necessary and valuable part of creating a plan of action to achieve a limited objective.
But I think that this Desert Storm example in the book is an entertainingly good example of ‘win the battle, lose the war’ as Huw mentioned.
There are many examples throughout history of bureaucrats and leaders narrowing striving to achieve the objective most clearly in front of them, at the long-term cost to the organisation or society they are ostensibly acting on behalf of (even putting aside the question of wider wellbeing).
Given this history, I think that any book attempting to discuss ‘good strategy’ shouldn’t shy away from this issue. I don’t think it’s valid for the author (or reviewer) to just deem that topic as out of scope.
It’s been a long time since I read the book, so apologies if my recollection is mistaken, but I don’t recall it engaging with this topic. At the very least, it definitely ignores it in the Desert Storm example.
To be clear, I found other parts of the book valuable, and I think that the calling out of different types of ‘bad strategy’ in particular is useful.
[Framed a different way: GSBS criticises ‘bad strategy’ as failing to grapple with the largest challenges that exist in a given situation; in Operation Desert Storm it is fairly obvious that the biggest challenge was not ‘how do we defeat this military force, give our overwhelming technological & air superiority?’ but rather ‘how do we achieve our political goals via this military operation, given the obvious potential causes for civilian unrest and unhappiness?‘. When you look at it like this, Desert Storm might have been a great example of the importance of choosing a single coherent plan of attack, but also a great example of failing to identify the actual largest issue faced by the American military, and therefore a good example of ‘bad strategy’].
Hello! I am the aforementioned friend. I guess part of the problem is the deliberate narrowing-in of scope that the book proposes (see the Diagnosis summary above). To some degree, this narrowing of scope is a necessary and valuable part of creating a plan of action to achieve a limited objective.
But I think that this Desert Storm example in the book is an entertainingly good example of ‘win the battle, lose the war’ as Huw mentioned.
There are many examples throughout history of bureaucrats and leaders narrowing striving to achieve the objective most clearly in front of them, at the long-term cost to the organisation or society they are ostensibly acting on behalf of (even putting aside the question of wider wellbeing).
Given this history, I think that any book attempting to discuss ‘good strategy’ shouldn’t shy away from this issue. I don’t think it’s valid for the author (or reviewer) to just deem that topic as out of scope.
It’s been a long time since I read the book, so apologies if my recollection is mistaken, but I don’t recall it engaging with this topic. At the very least, it definitely ignores it in the Desert Storm example.
To be clear, I found other parts of the book valuable, and I think that the calling out of different types of ‘bad strategy’ in particular is useful.
[Framed a different way: GSBS criticises ‘bad strategy’ as failing to grapple with the largest challenges that exist in a given situation; in Operation Desert Storm it is fairly obvious that the biggest challenge was not ‘how do we defeat this military force, give our overwhelming technological & air superiority?’ but rather ‘how do we achieve our political goals via this military operation, given the obvious potential causes for civilian unrest and unhappiness?‘. When you look at it like this, Desert Storm might have been a great example of the importance of choosing a single coherent plan of attack, but also a great example of failing to identify the actual largest issue faced by the American military, and therefore a good example of ‘bad strategy’].