Bruce Henderson
Bruce Henderson captured my thought on strategy,
that imagination and logic are the foundation of strategy. I've first
encountered his writing in the book "Perspectives on strategy"
from my elder friend working at BCG, Patiwat Panurach. His idea of
strategy being a thoughtful plan that included all the action/reaction
dynamics of competitors in order to succeed towads predefined goal
is very closely linked to my initial interest in game theory.
His analogy of understanding competition through
the biological evolutionary nature rather than economics, is very
much enlightening for me. This allows the insight that natural competition
is evolutionary, based upon trial and error, while strategic competition
is revolutionary. His work on the Harvard Business Review 1989, the
origin of strategy, is one of my most interesting read in the strategy
literature.
It draws an insight from biological experiment that
summed into the idea that no organism can compete effectively for
resources without being different. This whole idea of being different
is at the core of Porter's idea of strategy as positioning, the same
with Kotler's differentiation and the source of monopolistic power
in neoclassical microeconomics. Probably how he influenced me most
is in making sense of the core of "strategy" as there are
so many interpretations of strategy ranging from position to learning.
His ambition of always being unique, different and
impactful has become my personal mantra (of course, McKinsey's Marvin
Bower has inspired me very much in this respect also but perhaps more
on being extremely structured in problem-solving professionally!)
All in all, Henderson helps me to make sense of strategy in the broadest
term especially its historical presence in human history.
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