Becoming a great business strategist
It has been said that a business must grow or die. Many businesses start because someone knows how to do something and they start a company to do it. While expertise in their field is required to start, expertise in business strategy will be required to keep it going and growing. So what can someone do to move from subject matter expert to business strategist?
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A down vote with no explanation? That's not very sporting. – Kenneth Vogt 13 years ago
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You seem to have hit a nerve with some people (the down vote wasn't me) but I think people have objected to the string of your "becoming ..." questions. I think they sit within the guidelines of "build good answers to a range of questions" but they may be a bit broad "how should I live my life" sort of questions that you can't really answer in a page. – Robin Vessey 13 years ago
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Yes, I was reacting to something in meta. I didn't think it was that broad but opinions are like belly buttons -- everybody has one. – Kenneth Vogt 13 years ago
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I just wanted to say tat I think that this is a good and relevant question, and I would vote to reopen it if it is closed. – David 13 years ago
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The down vote was for the half dozen of the SAME questions with slight variations. I also voted to close them all (I am not the only one). Take your pick of any one of the reasons for closing. More than one apply. – Tim J 13 years ago
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I'm guessing it was downvoted because it is a poorly written question, and hard to answer properly in its current form. There are several problems with the question: 1) It is too broad. Because it's lacking details it's hard for someone to focus, and give you a good answer; 2) The lack of details gives the impression that you put very little time, and thought, in the question, and some may even be offended by that; – Zuly Gonzalez 13 years ago
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(Cont.) 3) The question leads itself to being answered with just a list of resources (I'm glad to see the answers so far have stayed away from this), and we try to stay away from questions that are simply a compiled list of stuff; 4) Because you posted so many similar questions, it gives the impression that you don't really need these questions answered. There is nothing wrong with posting questions simply to add content to the site, but people will be more motivated to answer a question if they think it is a real problem. – Zuly Gonzalez 13 years ago
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I think it is a valid question, but it needs to be reworded. Please do the following: 1) Edit the question and add more details/specifics; 2) Vote to reopen the question (you have at least one other person that will vote to reopen); 3) Flag the question for moderator attention, and add a note that you reworded the question. If there is enough interest, I will gladly reopen the question. – Zuly Gonzalez 13 years ago
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Thank you everyone for commenting. @Zuly Gonzalez, I have reworded the question per your recommendation. I hope this helps. – Kenneth Vogt 13 years ago
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@Tim, I can see how one may have seen it as "the same question with some variations". That was not my intent, in fact it was quite the opposite. I hope you will revisit the questions as I rewrite some of them to display their differentiations. – Kenneth Vogt 13 years ago
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Ok @edralph, @Tim, @Ross, @Zuly Gonzalez, @Kekito, I rewrote the question. Please reassess. – Kenneth Vogt 13 years ago
2 Answers
That is a great question. I think I would start the same way my professor in grad school told me to start getting ready to write a thesis- by producing an "annotated bibliography". That is, find the best books and articles on business strategy, and then just begin to summarize them. Then I would just keep writing what you learn - a blog would be perfect for this. Fake it until you make it. Keep writing about business strategy and pretty soon you will become a business strategist. You become what you do.
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thanks for the suggestion. That is exactly what I am looking for. Where are the suggestions for that "annotated bibliography"? – Kenneth Vogt 13 years ago
I would recommend playing strategy games against human players. One game that I believe has taught me how to strategy during negotiations, is the game of risk. This game has also taught me general strategical thinking, which is relevant for business strategy. Another game is, of course, monopoly.
The reasons why I recommend playing games is that I consider strategical thinking more of a skill than knowledge.
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lol+1 for bringing gaming into business strategy :) – Edralph 13 years ago
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I also know that Bill Gates, who obviously has a decent understanding of strategy, played lots of board games during his youth. – David 13 years ago
