Introduction: The roof of the dog's ass
Carolyn's dilemma : how do I create a strategy?
Untangling the challenge : finding and using the crux
Strategy is a journey
Where you can win : the ASC
The challenge of growth
The challenge of power
Creating coherent action
What is the problem? Diagnosing through reframing and analogy
Diagnose via comparison and frameworks
Use sharp analytical tools with care
Seek and edge
Innovating
The challenge of organization dysfunction
Don't start with goals
Don't confuse strategy with management
Don't confuse current financial results with strategy
Strategic planning : hits and misses, uses and misuses
Rumsfeld's question
A foundry walkthrough
Strategy foundry concepts and tools

Leaders become strategists when they pinpoint the crux of the vital, basic, pivotal challenges they face - the problems that threaten future success and the dramatic opportunities for growth whose shape may be elusive and difficult to grasp - and then take powerful, coherent, decisive action to make progress toward building a better future. Leaders who are strategists have an ever-present alertness to rapidly evolving business, economic, and institutional challenges that threaten future success, fundamental values, even the existence of the organization. Finding the crux is the essential skill of the strategist, especially when challenging problems and opportunities defy easy solution and the forces at work are unclear