A short history of strategy

Kiechel has an interesting book (The Lords of Strategy) on the history of corporate strategy, the firms who led the charge (Mckinsey was the laggard!), their frameworks (BCG’s 2×2, Mckinsey’s 7S etc) and most interestingly the people who made this happen.

If you’re in the management consulting industry, this should be an interesting read. The author is on firmer ground in describing the history; the last few chapters are kind of boring and don’t really add anything new.

Quick rule of thumb to determine doubling time

Tom Spencer has a neat little post on how to quickly calculate the time for something (revenue, population, etc) to double if you know the growth rate (Summary: Time = 70/Rate). If you’re in interested in the math (I was), you can find it here.