So far, in talking about Strategy, we’ve taken it for granted that “you” want certain outcomes, and can set goals to make that happen. But on closer examination, this “you” turns out to be more complex. All of us have experienced “wanting” something we know we’d be better off without, or the opposite, knowing we “should” want something, but lacking the motivation to make it happen. To think clearly and effectively about strategy, then, it’s helpful to clarify what part of ourselves we ought to heed in setting goals and going after them, which I propose ought to be the old-fashioned notion of the Will. Desire, Wanting, and the Will…
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What is Strategy? Besides being the favorite word of Business School professors, “strategy” has a rich and complex history as a concept, spanning across military, political, and business applications. At times, the different uses to which this word is put might leave us feeling like it is devoid of all meaning, but on closer inspection, there are elements in common across these different uses. In Strategy: A History, Lawrence Freedman does a masterful job of describing how the concept of strategy arose, became something to be studied and mastered, and eventually applied in new ways. Very briefly, strategy derives from the Greek word strategos, which means “general (of an army),”…
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This site is called Rhetoric for the Renaissance Man, so in letting you know what we’ll be doing here, I thought it might help to start with what I mean by that title, then explain a bit about who this site might appeal to (and might not), who I am and what has driven me to put this together, and lastly, a brief overview of the kinds of things we’ll dive into as we go. Who Is the Renaissance Man? The Renaissance Man is both a figure of history, describing multi-talented figures like Leonardo Da Vinci, Giordano Bruno, John Dee, and others, but also an aspirational, iconic figure of today.…