" I have very mixed feelings on this book. I found the first section, particularly Ch 5 on the "kernel" tremendously thought provoking. I was struck and inspired by the challenge to the more common approaches to strategic planning. Creating a discipline of identifying a diagnosis, guiding policy and coordinated action resonated and convicted me. The second section was a potpourri of various thoughts, some helpful, some not. The chapters on leverage, focus, and chain linked systems were best. I'm not sure what the third section was...Rumelt lost his way a bit. This was a case of a few brilliant articles trying to be forced into a book. A few other criticisms: 1) Rumelt overemphasizes military strategy. Command and control, single leader environments are the huge exception these days and therefore not particularly instructive to the average leader. It also excludes the large majority of what leadership is...creating alignment, inspiring, attuning emotions, developing people.. Maybe that was outside the scope of the book but some may come away thinking leadership is sitting in an ivory tower and designing complex strategies...not at all the case. 2) Rumelt clearly is an engineering expert but needs to stay away from church and philosophical history. His explanations of the reformation and the enlightenment were way off. 3) The author is clearly very proud of his consulting pedigree but the name dropping, the "I called every crash", the "I told you so" was brutal to read. Admittedly, this may have jaded me by the time I got to the third section. It left a very poor taste in my mouth. Nonetheless, all warts aside, I strongly commend the first section to any current or aspiring leader. "
— John, 1/30/2014