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**Interesting connection to AI Training / Research:** The overall approach / objectives of the WBR seem very similar to how Ilya Sutskever described how they approach AI training / research. The focus is less on “new ideas,” and more on understanding the behavior of the system. Here’s the quote:
> “Coming up with new ideas is actually just a modest part of the work. Even more important is to understand the results…to understand what’s going on…figuring out the next experiment to run. A lot of the time is spent on that. Understanding what could be wrong, what could have caused the system (neural net) to produce a result which was not expected.”
The real driver of progress / execution / performance/ superior results comes *less* from the generation of the new ideas, *more* on the ability to understand WHY the outcomes are happening. To put it another way: the better you understand the system, the better your innovation and performance will be.
The Amazon Weekly Business Review - Commoncog
The Commonplace Community
To understand how to set our strategic intents, we had to first understand what business value really means. Joshua Arnold, a business and product consultant and expert on cost of delay, uses a great model for thinking about business value,1 as shown in Figure 13-1. Figure 13-1. Framework for thinking about value, by Joshua Arnold (reprinted by permission of Joshua Arnold, © 2002)
Escaping the Build Trap
Melissa Perri
What Strategic Thinking Actually Looks Like
Strategic thinking means turning from the strategic process to the actual core questions:
**Instead of:** "What features should we build?"
**Ask:** "Which customer problems, if solved, would most directly contribute to our company's current priorities?"
**Instead of:** "Leadership hasn't told us who to focus on."
**Ask:** "Based on what we know about business goals, which segments would we focus on if we had to choose today?"
**Instead of:** "Which of [Helmer's 7 Powers](https://click.convertkit-mail2.com/8kuokvewzehoh29wkx5akhk6g2g99s3hxqgw2/owhkhwuwgz7do5tq/aHR0cHM6Ly83cG93ZXJzLmNvbS8=) is the right one to focus on?"
**Ask:** "How can we convince audiences to choose us over alternatives?"
Notice the pattern? Strategic thinking means making explicit choices within your context, even when that context is imperfect.
Why Strategic THINKING Matters More Than THE Strategy
Tim Herbig
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