{"id":100,"date":"2025-05-30T15:25:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T19:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/?p=100"},"modified":"2025-05-30T15:25:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T19:25:20","slug":"strategy-is-solving-not-stating-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/05\/30\/strategy-is-solving-not-stating-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategy Is Solving, Not Stating \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his book <\/span>The Crux<\/span><\/i>, UCLA Management Professor Emeritus Richard Rumelt argues that most firms don\u2019t understand strategy. Firms typically look at strategy as performance goals, planning, or mission and vision statements. Rumelt recommends first deeply identifying and understanding what issues are most important, judging how difficult those issues are, and directing resources to solving the most critical, solvable problems. Don\u2019t attack cruxes you don\u2019t yet have the skills to handle. Leaders also need to determine what sources of power and leverage they can use to solve the crux.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The crux is a rock-climbing term for the most demanding section or toughest sequence of moves in a climb<\/span><\/a>. What might be a challenging section for one climber may not be for another, and a challenging section at the end of the climb may be much more difficult than if that section was at the beginning.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Elon Musk wants to populate Mars. He has determined that the most critical problem is that the rockets cost too much, given they are not reusable. He has determined that the crux of the problem is to make reusable rockets, and the crux of making rockets reusable is figuring out how to prevent the rocket from burning up or being damaged in reentry. Because fuel is cheaper than the rocket, the key is carrying extra fuel to slow the rocket down in reentry.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Amazon invited other firms to sell on its site, they were concerned that other firms would start on Amazon and then sell the products on their own sites. The solution to this crux was for Amazon to develop a world-class distribution network, making it cheaper for them to sell on Amazon. When Google wanted to monetize its search engine results, it didn\u2019t want to clutter the page. The solution was to put the paid search ads on the side.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rumelt argues that people create poor strategies because they are distracted by thinking management tools are strategy tools. Management tools are methods to execute tasks, while strategy tools help diagnose and solve the organization’s most critical challenges. Don\u2019t get distracted by goals, mission statements, and quarterly earnings. Also, don\u2019t focus too quickly on action plans. Start with the challenge and take your time to define the crux and design actions to overcome it. Strategy is made of policies and actions to overcome a high-value challenge. Strategy is not a goal or vision.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his book The Crux, UCLA Management Professor Emeritus Richard Rumelt argues that most firms don\u2019t understand strategy. Firms typically look at strategy as performance goals, planning, or mission and vision statements. Rumelt recommends first deeply identifying and understanding what issues are most important, judging how difficult those issues are, and directing resources to solving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[488],"tags":[483,1010,1011,1006,1014,1016,1015,500,1012,1009,1017,1005,1013,1007,1003,1004,1008],"class_list":["post-100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-amazon","tag-climb","tag-elon-musk","tag-firms","tag-fuel","tag-goal","tag-google","tag-management","tag-mars","tag-planning","tag-quarterly-earning","tag-richard-rumelt","tag-rockets","tag-strategy","tag-the-crux","tag-ucla","tag-vision-statement"],"yoast_head":"\nStrategy Is Solving, Not Stating \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/05\/30\/strategy-is-solving-not-stating-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Strategy Is Solving, Not Stating \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his book The Crux, UCLA Management Professor Emeritus Richard Rumelt argues that most firms don\u2019t understand strategy. 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