Strategy Bites Back: It Is Far More, and Less, than You Ever Imagined 
¿Stefan Stern, Business Voice
Everyone knows where a straight line goes... but a squiggly line can go anywhere.
Computers generate straight lines. Life generates squiggly ones. That's why your predictable business strategies never turn out the way you expect. Too many strategy books see the world as if it were a straight line. Serious. Predictable. And deadly dull. This book knows something they don't. It knows you need to slay dragons and charm snakes in a business world that's awfully squiggly, but, also, endlessly fun and fascinating. So, this book takes you off the beaten path. Way off.
Here, strategy finally does bite back, at all the boring books and professors you had to stomach to get here. It'll knock you off your chair and help open your mind...to get past the ""straight line"" thinking that can't be right.
Dare to be creative, contrarian....heck, be bold and make your own personal strategy revolution:
Strategy as a ""little black dress"" Bringing simplicity and elegance back into strategy formation A deep dive inside the strategist's head What you can know, what you can't know, and how to tell the difference Seduction, not just deduction Using strategy to treat employees like lovers, not servants Strategy with the gloves off¿and the halo on Power, intrigue, punch, and serious jeopardy and much more... ...and much less
Bring passion, imagination, creativity, and fun back to strategy¿and surprise the folks at home!
OK, strategy is crucial. We know that. Everyone knows that. But why must it be so deadly serious? So plodding, uncreative, boring? Dull strategy books promote dull strategists who create dull strategies that fail. Now there's an antidote: Strategy Bites Back.
It's full of insight and daring, from Gary Hamel to Napoleon Bonaparte, Michael Porter to Hans Christian Andersen, all tied together by the triumvirate that is Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joe Lampel. Essays, poems, case studies, cartoons...whatever it takes to free your mind and unleash the crucial emotional side of strategy formation.
This is the whole squiggly shebang: strategy and gamesmanship, black dresses, and seduction...strategy lessons from your mother, from beehives, chess grandmasters, even the National Zoo.
Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel take on every sacred cow and entrenched belief that keeps you from recognizing your most powerful options¿and acting on them. Fun? Heck, yeah. But it'll help you define inspired strategies that offer huge upsides...and what could be more fun than that?"
Reviews
I find it poorly organized jumping here and there. There are many authors which made it difficult to tie together but still, I think it could have been better.
The authors spend a good deal of time putting examples into each of the chapters so that the reader can better understand the particular section. They also toss in any number of interesting and many times humorous, extra bits of info to help you not take yourself too seriously. They highlight the people and ideas they believe are worth reviewing, but they do not hold out any one to be the end all be all. Overall the book was fast paced and enjoyable. They took all the pain out of the topic and gave the reader a book that was exciting to open up. They give you solid and beneficial ideas that can be used on any size project or business unit. The book is well worth the time.