Entity Dossier
entity

James Gleick

Strategic Concepts & Mechanics

Signature MoveStiritz: Poker-Player Odds on Back-of-Envelope LBOs
Operating PrincipleBlank Calendar as Competitive Edge
Cornerstone MoveOne-Page Analysis Then Pounce
Signature MoveMalone: Scale as Virtuous Cycle, Tax as Obsession
Cornerstone MoveAnarchic Decentralization, Dictatorial Capital Control
Risk DoctrineInstitutional Imperative as CEO Kryptonite
Decision FrameworkHurdle Rate as Supreme Filter
Signature MoveSingleton: Phone Booth Tender at All-Time-Low Multiples
Cornerstone MoveSuction Hose Buybacks at Maximum Pessimism
Cornerstone MoveCash Flow as True North, Not Reported Earnings
Signature MoveAnders: Sell Your Favorite Division Without Blinking
Identity & CultureEngineers Over MBAs at the Helm
Competitive AdvantageConcentrated Bets Over Diversified Dribbles
Signature MoveMurphy: Leave Something on the Table Then Lever Up
Capital StrategyTax Counsel Before Every Transaction
Operating PrinciplePer-Share Value Not Longest Train
Signature MoveBuffett: Float Flywheel from Insurance to Empire
Strategic PatternGreedy When Others Are Fearful
Operating PrinciplePower as Potential, Not Guarantee
Operating PrincipleCrafted Not Designed — Strategy Through Experimentation
Mental ModelProcess Power: Complexity Makes Imitation Take Decades
Mental ModelSurplus Leader Margin: Price to Zero-Profit the Follower
Strategic ManeuverConvert Variable Costs to Fixed Costs at Scale
Strategic PatternCounter-Positioning Is Partial — Stack Another Power
Mental ModelSwitching Costs Only Pay on the Second Sale
Mental ModelOnly Seven Moats Exist — Name Yours or You Have None
Mental ModelBenefit Without Barrier Is Just a Head Start
Structural VulnerabilityFive Stages of Counter-Positioned Incumbent Grief
Mental ModelThe Incumbent's Strength IS Your Barrier
Competitive AdvantageAgency and Cognitive Bias Amplify the Barrier
Mental ModelNetwork Tipping Points Make Late Entry Unthinkable
Strategic PatternStep-Function Ascent, Not Linear Growth
Strategic ManeuverCounter-Position by Making the Incumbent's Best Move Suicidal
Mental ModelEvery Power Starts with Invention, Not Analysis
Mental ModelStatics Tell You the Destination; Dynamics Tell You the Route
Mental ModelIndustry Economics × Competitive Position = Power Intensity
Risk DoctrineCollateral Damage Decays Over Time
Decision FrameworkStrategically Separate Businesses Need Separate Strategies
Decision FrameworkCornered Resource Must Be Sufficient Alone

Primary Evidence

"Further Reading Auletta, Ken. The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Super Highway. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1997. Auletta, Ken. Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way. New York: Random House, 1991. Bernstein, Peter L. Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1996. Biggs, Barton. Hedge hogging. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2006. The Buffett Partnership. Collection of Reports to Investors, 1958–1969. Byrne, John A. The Whiz Kids: The Founding Fathers of American Business and the Legacy They Left Us. New York: Currency/Doubleday, 1993. Conant, Jennet. Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002. Cunningham, Lawrence. The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 1997. Drucker, Peter F. Adventures of a Bystander. New York: Harper and Row, 1978. Ellis, Charles D., ed. (with James R. Vertin). Classics: An Investor’s Anthology. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin, 1989. Gladwell, Malcom. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2008. Gleick, James. The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood. New York: Vintage Books, 2011. Graham, Katharine. Personal History. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1997. Hagstrom, R.G. The Warren Buffett Portfolio. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1999. Halberstam, David. The Best and the Brightest. New York: Random House, 1972. Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2011. Kaufman, Peter D. Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. Los Angeles: PCA Publications, 2005. Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Lawrence, Mary Wells. A Big Life (in Advertising). New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002. Lowe, Janet. Damn Right! Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2000. Lowenstein, Roger. Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist. New York: Random House, 1995. Mauboussin, Michael. More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. Poundstone, William. Fortune’s Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street. New York: Hill and Wang, 2005. Press, Eyal. Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2012. Preston, Richard. American Steel. New York: Avon Books, 1992. Pruitt, Bettye H. The Making of Harcourt General: A History of Growth Through Diversification 1922–1992. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1994. Roberts, John. The Modern Firm: Organizational Design for Performance and Growth. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Robichaux, Mark. Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2002. Skildelsky, Robert. John Maynard Keynes, Volume 2: The Economist as Savior, 1920–1937. New York: Penguin Books, 1995. Swensen, David F. Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment. New York: Free Press, 2005. Tedlow, Richard S. Giants of Enterprise: Seven Business Innovators and the Empires They Built. New York: Harper Business, 2001. Train, John. The Money Masters. New York: Harper and Row, 1980. Index Note: Page numbers followed by f refer to figures; page numbers followed by t refer to tables."

Source:The Outsiders_ Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

"This perspective, however, created a dilemma for me. Strategy is a complex subject—how could this “context” be learned by our people expeditiously? Having held a lifelong interest in education, I have always been much taken with an anecdote concerning the Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman, as recounted by James Gleick in his book Genius. Professor Feynman, one of the truly great science teachers of his time, was asked to do a lecture on a difficult area of Quantum Mechanics. Feynman agreed but then several days later recanted, saying “You know I couldn’t do it…That means we really don’t understand it."

Source:7 Powers

Appears In Volumes