“Everyone needs a strategy,” writes Lawrence Freedman in the opening line of his book. There’s no better place to start thinking about the components of strategy than this book. Strategy involves more than setting a goal supported by ways and means. Goals have to be realistic. Strategy involves countering a thinking opponent. Chance, always lurking, has to be accounted for. Execution requires a progression of actions — a campaign plan — and adjustments. It also has to be supported by will. The author writes about “the idea of strategic scripts,” which entails “thinking about strategy as a story told in the future tense.” The book provides a useful framework and draws on history to explain the importance of each element.
Quote
Having a strategy suggests an ability to look up from the short term and the trivial to view the long term and the essential, to address causes rather than symptoms, to see woods rather than trees.
Guiding Questions
- What is the most effective definition of strategy? If "no plan survives first contact with the enemy," does strategy matter? If so, why?
- How does Freedman's understanding of strategy synergize with the decision-making apparatus of the U.S. national security establishment?