Top Management Strategy: What It is and How to Make It Work

Among the many classic strategy formulation books that I have owned & read, I treasure 'Top Management Strategy'. One of the principal authors of this book is Benjamin Tregoe, who co-founded the Kepner-Tregor outfit around the sixties or so, with Charles Kepner. As a young engineer in the early seventies, I attended their 'Analytic Trouble Shooting' workshop. In the later years as a manager, I had read 'The Rational Manager'. Subsequently, in later years as a senior manager, I again attended their four-day 'Problem Solving & Decision Making' workshop. Their rational thinking processes from their books & workshops had often helped me tremendously in my career path from engineer to manager. This particular book came into my hands about the time - around the mid-eighties - when I was moving into general management. A quick glance of the table of contents of the book will give you a rough picture of why I like the book: - Strategy & Survival; - Taking Stock of Your Strategic IQ; - Driving Force & the Nine basic Strategic Areas; - The Power of the Driving Force; - Making Strategy Happen; - The Challenges of Startegic Management; - Organising to Set Strategy; In fact, many of the author's strategy ideas have influenced other strategy consultants in later years, including Michel Robert. This particular book impresses me very much. Unlike many books on strategy formulation, this one points out that there are various paths to success. The secret is to take the route that best fits your business. Another reader's benefits out of this book during that period of time was the 'Selected Annnotated Biliography' which eventually led me to read a good number of other classic strategy books, including Russel Ackoff's 'A Concept of Corporate Planning', Kenneth Andrews' 'The Concept of Corporate Strategy'; Igor Ansoff's 'Corporate Strategy', just to name a few. On the whole, the author's writing is crisp, concise & clear. The book has just over 100 pages. From a critical thinking perspective, this book is definitely worth reading. This is because, by going back to reading the classic strategy books (I call this reading backwards), like this one, you will get a better understanding of what strategy works & what strategy doesn't work.

This book makes you think on what makes you different, focusing on your one and only main Driving Force out of nine options. Long term strategy is not the same as long term planning, the first is what you want to be in the future, the second is how to get there. Being aware of your Strategy and Driving Force, allows you to focus on achiving success.

The authors bring into focus the definition of a business' "driving forces", whether "products offered", "market saturation", "technology" or others. I regret giving my copy of this book away 15 years ago - I could still refer to it today.