The Strategy Paradox:Why committing to success leads to failure (and what to do about it)

Everyone knows what a company needs to be successful: a compelling vision, bold leadership, and decisive action. But, unfortunately, those drivers of success are almost always the drivers of failure as well.

The reason? Managers must make choices with far-reaching consequences today, but most base those choices on assumptions about a future they cannot predict. It is this collision, between commitment and uncertainty, that creates the bewildering condition known as the strategy paradox.

Answering those questions is the goal of The Strategy Paradox: Why Committing to Success Leads to Failure [and What to do About it], by Michael E. Raynor,

Raynor co-authored The Innovator's Solution with Clayton M. Christensen. He is a Distinguished Fellow at Deloitte Research in Boston and an adjunct professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business in London, Canada.

In The Strategy Paradox, Raynor explains, through vivid examples at major companies such as Sony, Vivendi, and Johnson & Johnson, that failure is not always a result of poor planning or execution. It is often great planning and execution…coupled with bad luck.

This is the central dilemma of the strategy paradox. Any future strategy, even one that is perfectly designed and executed, may well fail, because the future cannot be predicted. So what should companies do?

The only way that companies can successfully plan for the future is by separating making strategic commitments from managing strategic uncertainty. Only then can companies make the bold choices that hold the promise of greatness without accepting the risk of total ruin.

In this summary, you’ll master a concrete framework for strategic actions that will allow you to overcome the strategy paradox and seize today's opportunities while simultaneously preparing for tomorrow's promise.