Hey Roger -

I love this. So glad I stumbled onto your work.

I've been looking for a story that explains why focusing on outputs vs. inputs works. The Energy Policy and Conservation Act is the perfect supporting example. I plan on stealing it. (The example, not the legislative document.)

Here's the question I'm wrestling with: If a company truly only has "one strategy," how do you learn to think strategically before you make it into the C-suite? How do you practice this skill before you ascend to the level where you have the license to contribute to and shape that "one strategy?" I've always liked Richard Rumelt's view that strategy is about building a (1) diagnosis, (2) a guiding policy, and (3) a plan. Those three disciplines can be used by anybody to "think more strategically," no matter how where they sit in an organization. What's your advice on developing these strategic muscles before you've earned the right to use them to influence "the strategy?"

I'm doing some writing on this and would love your thoughts. Thanks again for sharing all the great thinking. -Paul