Situations / Strategy and competition
Strategy and competition
Positioning against rivals and choosing where to play.
Traps you might be in
Tools to try
- No. 0069 BackcastingYou put a debt-free date on the calendar, then calculate what your balance must be three months before it.
- No. 0080 BATNAThe dealer holds firm on price, and you have another car lined up across town.
- No. 0147 Circle of CompetenceYou understand the rental property’s repairs, but the agent’s spreadsheet leaves you guessing about the investment.
- No. 0351 Explore-Exploit Trade-OffYou order your usual lunch while a new place across the street posts a menu you haven’t tried.
- No. 0541 Jobs to Be DoneYou buy a meal kit the week you start a new job, though you have owned a cookbook for years.
- No. 0820 Red TeamingYour launch review is all green until a separate team tries to make the plan fail.
- No. 0886 Scenario PlanningBefore you sign a three-year lease, you sketch what happens if your biggest customer leaves or demand doubles.
Patterns at play
- No. 0574 Lindy EffectYou reach past this year’s bestseller for the book people are still recommending fifty years after it appeared.
- No. 0665 Network EffectsYou download a new messaging app, then leave it unopened because everyone you need to reach is still somewhere else.
- No. 0728 Path DependenceYour team keeps using the clunky database because every report, script, and hire has been built around it.
- No. 0773 Prisoner’s DilemmaYou check your phone while your friend talks, then look up to find your friend scrolling while you talk.