FIRST IS A SERIES OF POSTS TO PREVIEW MY NEW BOOK: Now to NEXT: The Art & Science of Strategic Leadership, Fall 2026
The strategy bookshelf is crowded—and for good reason. Over the past several decades, some of the world’s leading thinkers have fundamentally changed how executives understand competition, execution, and organizational performance. Yet despite this extraordinary body of work, one stubborn fact remains: most strategies still fail to achieve their intended outcomes.
The question is no longer How do we build a better strategy? The better question is Why do capable leaders with sound strategies still fail to reach NEXT?
That question sits at the center of my work.
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
Every serious student of strategy owes a debt to three influential thinkers.
Michael Porter, in Competitive Strategy (1980) and Competitive Advantage (1985), demonstrated that sustainable success begins with understanding competitive forces and making deliberate choices about where and how an organization will compete. His Five Forces framework remains one of the most influential models in business strategy.
Richard Rumelt, in Good Strategy/Bad Strategy (2011), shifted the conversation from planning to diagnosis. He argued that effective strategy begins by identifying the critical challenge, developing a guiding policy, and coordinating coherent actions. His work reminds leaders that strategy is fundamentally about solving the right problem—not producing longer planning documents.
Robert Kaplan and David Norton, through The Balanced Scorecard (1996) and later The Execution Premium (2008), helped organizations translate strategy into measurable objectives, performance systems, and accountability. Their contribution transformed strategy from an annual planning exercise into an ongoing management discipline
Collectively, these authors explain how organizations should analyze markets, formulate strategy, and execute through disciplined management systems. Their work remains essential reading for every executive.
NEXT UP: Where My Work Begins