Business book review: The Strategy Book

You could spend the rest of your life reading strategy books (and so avoid the issue altogether!), but if you are short of time and need a practical guide to what strategy is and how it might help you, then this is the book for you. Among many managers the word strategy has negative connotations. It normally means something imposed from above in direct contradiction to previous prevailing business philosophies, which will create untold disruption and will change back again when circumstances – or the CEO – changes. Yet the definition given here “Strategy is about shaping the future", is what it’s all about, and what everyone in business needs to achieve. The bald title of this book, along with the lack of a zippy sub-heading – nothing about “Five lessons to beat the recession” or even “Planning for success” - is typical. This is a no-nonsense guide. It is aimed at “leaders and managers” and has a firm grasp of the fundamentals without wandering too far off into theory. Organised into six parts; the first five organise strategy around the challenges a leader might face in creating strategy and making it work. The titles of these are clear – “Your strategic self”, “Thinking like a strategist”, “Creating your strategy”, “Winning with strategy,” and “Making your strategy work”. The last part is the “Strategy Book tool kit”, and here you’ll find “the models and tools of strategy succinctly explained.” It’s a clever way of organising matters because it means the practical parts of the book aren’t slowed down by digressions or boxes explaining the concepts – both well known – Michael Porter’s generic strategies for instance, through to the lesser known (to me at least)  Michaud and Thoenig’s strategic orientation or Treacy and Wiersema’s value disciplines. Throughout the book McKeown doesn’t lose sight of the busy manager flicking through looking for enlightenment. The two-page whizz through of the history of strategy concludes “In some ways, the intellectual history of strategy is more complex than my short introduction. Yet in other ways, it’s simpler. Some argue for the more creative, human side, while others argue for the more analytical side of strategy. “ McKeown says that both are important, and suggests ways to balance them. McKeown clearly knows his theory but not all of his readers will, and occasionally when he drops in the name of an academic and his or her approach I did wish that the Further Reading section at the back gave details of what book these thoughts came from or where I could learn more. But in a little over 200 pages it’s impressive what is covered, and how useful and easily understandable it all is. If you only read the checklists from each chapter the book would be worth it. EDIT 2015 - there is now a second edition out, with "with updated examples, new research findings, and an expanded toolkit to help readers to put the insights to work in the real world". To find this on Amazon, click here Tom Otley