This is a book that can be used as a guide to strategy formation at any level, from corporations down to individuals. It lays out a framework within which to think about choices and how they affect future behaviour, and discusses how to make these choices in the face of future uncertainty.

Perhaps the only thing not to like is the use of anecdotes from Proctor and Gamble, one of the world’s biggest domestic-goods manufacturers and the source of most of the ideas being presented. It’s of course good to have validation of the ideas, but in doing so one has to somewhat suspend disbelief and get used to people seriously discussing the technological advantages of different washing powders, tooth flosses and dusters. At one level, I can appreciate the skill that goes into these goods; at another, I find it hard to believe that consumers really, really get all that excited by the minor changes being described. Or maybe one really sholud believe that people really do pay this much attention, which in itself would be a result worth reporting and strategising about.

4/5. Finished Saturday 20 April, 2013.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)