deepstash
Beta
29 Lessons From The Greatest Strategic Minds Who Ever Lived, Fought, Or Led
The Art of Negative Visualization
This is a stoic lesson, to visualize failure in advance.
It helps because if you imagine failure you start seeing all the ways that have led to that result. And you can start actively working on addressing and mitigating them in advance.
627 SAVES
This is a professional note extracted from an online article.
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
IDEA EXTRACTED FROM:
9
Key Ideas
Tactical Hell
It is a place where we are perpetually reactive to other people’s demands and needs, driven by emotional instead of logical impulses.
We need to escape it and see things objectively and with detachment, from a distance.
The Art of Negative Visualization
This is a stoic lesson, to visualize failure in advance.
It helps because if you imagine failure you start seeing all the ways that have led to that result. And you can start actively working on addressing and mitigating them in advance.
The ‘Draw-Down Period’
Before he would jump into an idea and go full steam, take a reflective period to step back ask yourself: "What do I really have here? Do I actually have something? What am I hoping to accomplish?”
Actively Seek Criticism
If you want to be successful, leave no room for your ego.
You actively submit your strategic plans to feedback and criticism—that’s how they get better.
Seeing Things As They Are
Strategy requires objectivity and seeing things as they are.
It requires us to put aside how our emotions cloud our thinking with fear overconfidence and see how the situation truly is.
Adopt Systems & Processes
With a system in place, you can better do the most essential job of a strategist: think long term.
To put into practice your vision, you need systems, routines and rituals—structures that prevent you from sliding off the track.
Form a Red Team
This is a team with a simple job: to find holes and problems in your plan.
Leave your ego out and be grateful when people expose flaws in your approach.
Deal With Problems Early
The best time to do it was yesterday, the next best is right now.
Don’t put off dealing with your problems. They will only grow.
Beware of Specialization
If you become too myopic and focused on your scope of work, you might lose contact with the bigger picture.
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
4
Key Ideas
7 Characteristics Of Strategic Thinkers
- Vision: they use a mix of logic and creativity to define ambitious but rigorous visions of what needs to be achieved.
- Framework: taking into account their own biases, timeline and resources, they can define their objectives and develop multiple action plans.
- Perceptiveness: they observe and understand the world from all the different perspectives.
- Assertiveness: They’re good at evaluating, deciding and promptly executing their decisions without letting doubts fog their vision.
- Flexibility: they seek advice to compensate for their weaknesses and then twist their ideas and framework to achieve their goals. But they are flexible without breaking the rules.
- Emotional Balance: they are aware and balance their emotions so as to favor the achievement of their goals.
- Patience: they understand that most achievements are a long-term endeavor involving various milestones and a lot of effort.
one more idea
6
Key Ideas
Boss-mode vs worker-mode
Knowledge workers usually have to play 2 roles at the same time - the boss and the worker: They have to choose what their work is (boss-mode) and they have to do the actu...
Limited attention
Your attention is a limited resource and you have to be careful where you are spending it.
If you choose to give away 80 percent of your attention to meetings, you will have 20 percent of your attention just for dealing with a few emails feeling overwhelmed.
Levels of attention
- Proactive attention: you are fully focused and prepared for your most important decisions/ most complex tasks.
- Active attention: you're plugged in, but also easily distracted.
- Inactive attention: you're likely to really struggle with complex or difficult tasks.
3 more ideas
4
Key Ideas
Conditions for leadership
There is a difference between the necessary conditions for leadership and sufficient ones.
For instance, in war, it is necessary to know the capabilities of your enemy and th...
Titles and trust
Title based leaders feel everyone will fall in line because of their title. They think they are leading because they are in charge.
But a necessary condition for leadership is trust, not a title. You have to earn trust.
Legitimacy
One of the sufficient conditions of leadership is legitimacy. But titles do not confer legitimacy.
If your team, organization, or country doesn't view you as legitimate, you will have a tough time getting anything done.
one more idea