The Decision Papers

  • The Decision Papers — The Question Has Altitude: Don't Solve Strategy in an Ops Room. Banner with a watercolor hot air balloon rising above the ground.

    I.19 — The Question Has Altitude: Don’t Solve Strategy in an Ops Room

    “It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?” — H. D. Thoreau Many decisions fail not because the idea was wrong, but because the wrong room tried to do the wrong kind of deciding. You demand operational certainty before you will approve a strategic direction. Or you…

    The Decision Papers
  • The Decision Papers — The Two-King Problem: The Fatal Cost of a Divided Throne. Banner with two chess kings facing each other on a chessboard.

    I.13 — The Two-King Problem: The Fatal Cost of a Divided Throne

    “The same attribute cannot at the same time belong and not belong to the same subject in the same respect.” — Aristotle Most organisations know they should not operate without a strategy. Fewer recognise the subtler and more fatal trap: holding two strategies that contradict each other, and refusing to choose between them. Call it…

    The Decision Papers
  • The Decision Papers — What Is Your King?: The Promise Your Decisions Must Obey. Banner with a chess king standing on a board.

    I.12 — What Is Your King? The Promise Your Decisions Must Obey

    “The center of gravity is the hub of all power and movement, on which everything depends; that is the point against which all our energies should be directed.” — Carl von Clausewitz In chess, a player can win pieces, control the centre, dominate the board, and look brilliant doing it, and still lose, because they…

    The Decision Papers