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Explore what Mike has covered in his Strategy Distilled newsletters so far…

Strategy Distilled March 2024

  • Protocols for Strategy
  • Remembering Daniel Kahneman

Strategy Distilled February 2024

  • Strategy is for Everyone
  • ‘Addition sickness’
  • Mustafa Suleyman’s book ‘The Coming Wave’

Strategy Distilled January 2024

  • Core Values one year on
  • Overcoming the complexity of strategy
  • From Neil Perkin: ‘Strategy on a Page’ and ‘Subtraction as a Strategy’

Strategy Distilled December 2023

I took a Christmas break this month! If you would like something strategy-related to read, email me your postal address and I’ll send you a free copy of one of my strategy books (‘The Strategy Manual’, ‘Core Values’ or ‘University Strategy 2020’ – please specify) – Merry Christmas!

Strategy Distilled November 2023

  • The case for strategy being limited to a handful of high-level goals.
  • Don’t Fix Things. Write a New Story – from John Cutler
  • Strategy for environmental sustainability – what kind of ‘green’ are you?

Strategy Distilled October 2023

  • How to factor AI into your strategy
  • Core Values from Brave New Work
  • Complexity from brevity – a strategy development error
  • Strategy Distilled – free pdf compilation

Strategy Distilled September 2023

  • Building a writing culture for strategy
  • Moonshots or roofshots? … from Google
  • Five free hardback copies of The Strategy Manual
  • Strategy Distilled – free pdf compilation

Strategy Distilled August 2023

  • Strategy as a model of causation
  • Loretta Ross’s ‘calling-in’ framework
  • ChatGPT: When do hallucinations turn into deceit?
  • Strategy Distilled – free pdf compilation

Strategy Distilled July 2023

  • Strategy flywheels and strategic synergy
  • Glossary of company values
  • Design Fiction
  • Strategy Distilled – free pdf compilation

Strategy Distilled June 2023

  • The difference between core values and ‘what we care about’
  • John Cutler’s ‘Strategy = Insights^Conviction’
  • Two years of Strategy Distilled – free 88-page pdf compilation

Strategy Distilled May 2023

  • Justifying stakeholder consultation in strategy development
  • Just how JEDI are you? How to embed Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in your ways of working (from The Ready)

Strategy Distilled April 2023

  • How to think big in strategy
  • ‘Care’ as a big thinking theme for strategy
  • Wise words on strategy from Professor Susan Lea

Strategy Distilled March 2023

  • How strategy actually works
  • What is strategy?
  • Strategy vs business-as-usual 
  • What do you move on to, after the strategy is written?
  • Participatory governance

Strategy Distilled February 2023

  • Get a free copy of my new ‘Core Values’ book
  • The Case for Strategy Scoping
  • Decision rights for strategy
  • Strategy quotes for 2023

Strategy Distilled January 2023

  • NEW BOOK: ‘Core Values’
  • Spring cleaning ‘organisational debt’
  • Rumelt’s ‘The Crux’

Strategy Distilled December 2022

Why you should aim to write a minimus opus rather than a magnum opus.

Strategy Distilled November 2022

  • What Douglas Engelbart has to tell us about strategy
  • Linda Hill on managing innovation within strategy
  • Adam Grant’s Acts of Leadership

Strategy Distilled October 2022

  • A new definition of strategy
  • DICE instead of RACI
  • Strategic Compression

Strategy Distilled September 2022

  • The role of values in strategy and the rise of people strategies
  • If you want to change culture, change the language you use
  • Enablers of strategic autonomy

Strategy Distilled August 2022

  • Leading & lagging indicators as strategy metrics
  • Google’s ‘Simplicity Sprint’
  • Introducing ‘scruffy strategy’

Strategy Distilled July 2022

  • Separating Strategy from Strategic Planning
  • Risk & innovation
  • Does your strategy travel?
  • Minecraft’s values

Strategy Distilled June 2022

  • Boosting collaborative skills for strategy
  • Who knows about your strategy?
  • Problem-solving for strategy

Strategy Distilled May 2022

  • Strategy as Design Thinking
  • Connecting strategy and culture
  • A broad view of strategy

Strategy Distilled April 2022

  • Strategy governance from the boardroom to front-line teams
  • Engaging middle managers in strategy
  • Chain of beliefs in strategy
  • Tesler’s Law of the Conservation of Complexity
  • Chesterton’s Fence

Strategy Distilled March 2022

  • Strategy destination vs strategy aspiration
  • 12 strategy FAQs
  • One thing every strategist needs to accept
  • Gaining control in strategy
  • Strategic resilience

Strategy Distilled February 2022

  • New: The Triple Diamond Model of strategy
  • Ikigai and the deficiencies of strategy
  • Strategy books you might enjoy

Strategy Distilled January 2022

  • Strategy KPIs: avoiding the tyranny of measurement
  • Lessons for strategy from Pixar’s 22 rules for storytelling
  • Further lessons on strategy from the Beatles

Strategy Distilled December 2021

  • A look back at 6 months of Strategy Distilled
  • Masters in Digital Marketing
  • Five free copies of The Strategy Manual to give away

Strategy Distilled November 2021

  • Connecting values with strategy
  • Social proof
  • The ‘H’ model of strategy adoption
  • 5 types of people you’ll meet when implementing change
  • In praise of Post-it notes

Strategy Distilled October 2021

  • Strategy Healthcheck
  • The perils of hedging strategy
  • Loss aversion
  • Net Promoter Score 3.0
  • Strategic innovation lessons from LEGO

Strategy Distilled September 2021

  • The Strategy Manual – one year on
  • The Strategy Lifecycle Model
  • Antifragility
  • Strategy and the eigenquestion
  • The ‘hot streak’ model of innovation
  • Strategy and culture

Strategy Distilled August 2021

  • Illusory superiority – a lesson from behavioural economics
  • The most important thing I learned this month – ‘process accountability’
  • How quantity trumps quality
  • What kind of strategist are you?
  • The six roles required for strategy development

Strategy Distilled July 2021

  • Framing: a lesson from behavioural economic
  • Using framing as a model to inject creativity into strategy development
  • The case for strategy workshops
  • The synergy of Virgin Atlantic’s ‘double helix’ strategy
  • Digital avoidance strategy
  • The front-line paradox

Strategy Distilled June 2021

  • Five strategy lessons from Amazon that we can all learn from
  • The VACU model for strategic risk assessment
  • What is Confirmation Bias and why is it important in strategy work?
  • Leadership lessons from Buurtzorg.
  • How digital should your strategy be?
  • Innovation environments must be safe-to-fail

You may also be interested in…

Mike Baxter's Book: 'The Strategy Manual'

'The Strategy Manual: A step-by-step guide to the transformational change of anything' draws on Mike's many years of expertise to deliver a practical handbook for anyone interested in the creation, management or governance of strategy. Find out more...

"Best management book I've read all year." Clo Willaerts

Strategic Risk Model

Free: Models and Templates

We believe strategy is for everyone. To help you DO strategy rather than just think about it, our models, frameworks and templates from 'The Strategy Manual' are released here under Creative Commons License. This means they are free for you to use in your presentations and strategy documentation. Sign up to hear when new models are released.

Report: University Strategy 2020

Based on an analysis of the published strategies of 52 UK universities and interviews with 28 university leaders, this report combines evidence-based strategy research with recommendations on best-practice strategy design. Available on Amazon.

"This report will be of great value to university leaders and their advisers." Lord Jim Knight

Arrange a call with Mike to discuss your strategy issues