The One-Hour Strategy: Building a Company of Strategic Thinkers

by Jeroen Kraaijenbrink

#1 Amazon Best Seller in Organizational Change, Strategic Management, and Management SkillsA tale about strategy done differently The One-Hour Strategy follows Martin, the new sales team lead at Waters & Flows, which attracted him because of their unique way of doing strategy. We shadow Martin as he onboards with his new colleagues, who walk him through each aspect of their One-Hour Strategy, answering his questions and addressing his reservations. Along the way, Martin Why employees at every level in the firm should be involved in strategy How strategic competence creates company agility, which is crucial in disruptive times How this new approach closes the strategy-versus-execution gap Martin’s story introduces an easy but valuable tool for integrating strategic planning into your organization’s culture. Martin’s notes on key takeaways distill the information he learns, and each chapter includes self-evaluation questions to help you consider how this new way of thinking could be integrated at your company. If you’re dissatisfied with the traditional way of doing strategy or your company seems stuck in a rut of strategizing that never turns into action, this book offers a solution.

Genres: Business

122 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 7, 2023

About the author

Jeroen Kraaijenbrink is a writer, advisor and lecturer on leadership and strategy. He lectures at the University of Amsterdam Business School and the TSM Business School in Enschede. He advises leaders in corporate and non-profit organizations and is also an active contributor on forbes.com.

No More Bananas is Jeroen’s third book. After writing two earlier books on strategy based on his professional expertise, No More Bananas reflects his personal journey to stand strong against the collective lunacy of today. Jeroen lives in the Netherlands, with his wife Caroline and their cat.

Reviews

[Mihai Ionescu · Rating 1 out of 5]

JEROEN KRAAIJENBRINK'S PLAGIARISM
Someone might say that it isn't plagiarism, it's just the re-invention of the hot water by some half-illiterate author. Well ... someone writes about Strategy Execution, but hasn't read the fundamental work of those who coined Strategy Execution, Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton? The argument doesn't hold water. He must have read it from some second-hand source and forgot where he read it. Anyway, this guy's book has no bibliography, so it's like he invented himself all that stuff.

Summary of confusions, screwed-up platitudes, and plagiarism:

"Takeaway 1: Make strategy the rule, not the exception"... a confusion between priority and parallel management of Strategy and Operations.

"Takeaway 2: Make strategy part of everyone’s job"... PLAGIARISM /*

"Takeaway 3: When complexity increases, involve more people"... complexity is handled by decomposing it to simple parts, not by involving more people.

"Takeaway 4: In making strategy, pay attention to the details"... a nonsense suggestion. Strategy is about the big picture broken down into manageable details for its implementation.

"Takeaway 5: Make strategy a continuous process, not an event"... PLAGIARISM /*

"Takeaway 6: Make strategy internally, within your own offices and meeting rooms"... does it matter where the Strategy workshops & reviews take place?

"Takeaway 7: Monitor actively; change reluctantly"... a toxic idea. The corrective actions are applied whenever required.

"Takeaway 8: Everyone works at strategy at their own level and from their own perspective"... There is only one Strategy perspective: company's. The contributions to its execution come from individual and departmental levels.

"Takeaway 9: Internalize the 6M Model and the three questions and keep them front of mind, always"... confused categorization model related to the Strategy: "Money, Magic, Means, Market, Meaning, Momentum".

"Takeaway 10: Go for better, not for best"... useless. Consider Michael Porter's principle instead: "There is no 'best', only uniquely different".

"Takeaway 11: Aim for confidence, decisions, and actions, not for certainty, analysis, and prediction"... shallow lip-service.

"Takeaway 12: Treat strategy and execution as yin and yang. You need both, and they are inextricably intertwined"... incompetent blabber. The Strategy Formulation and Strategy Execution processes are sequential and part of Strategy's adaptive cycle.

"Takeaway 13: Start your strategy inside, and leverage your company’s uniqueness"... wrong. Strategy's formulation starts from the future challenges the company has to surmount in the future.

"Takeaway14: Only adopt the One-Hour Strategy if at least one executive strongly believes in it"... well, don't adopt it, there is nothing to adopt.

"Takeaway 15: Allocate resources and make someone responsible for the One-Hour Strategy"... a useless book, full of incompetent advices and plagiarism.

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[Courtnee Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The One-Hour Strategy is a book by Jeroen Kraaijenbrink. Martin Koverski is excited about his new position at Waters & Flows, as it’s a company that makes reputable products and treats its employees well. He’s interested in the business’s strategies and the application of the tools they use. Martin is taken through the company’s technique at different levels of the business and he’s able to see how the process works at Waters & Flows. Through his encounters with the other employees, Martin properly absorbs the company’s ideals and becomes a productive member of the team.

Instead of outlining point-by-point methods, the author guides readers through a successful application of strategy through a fictitious story. The key points are emphasized in the takeaways, so even if readers are absorbed in the author’s conversational style, they won’t miss significant ideas. After each section, Jeroen Kraaijenbrink leaves a set of questions for readers to answer. The questions apply to the material covered, bring focus to a reader’s business in present terms, allow the reader to see room for improvement and adjustments, and can be used for further reflection. With amazing attention to detail, the author has implemented the process within Waters & Flows, and the reader is able to understand the application, instead of only hearing key points that may be forgotten before they are put into practice. The story sticks in the minds of readers, so it’s easier to remember when the reader applies it. Readers can select The One-Hour Strategy with confidence, as Jeroen Kraaijenbrink holds a Ph.D. in industrial management and regularly teaches strategy.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book relates of a unique and progressive perspective on strategy. We get to learn of this approach through Martin's journey as a new employee within Waters and Flows. The author beautifully uses storytelling techniques to describe how the One-hour stragegy works and how to integrate it.

I found this book to be very easy to read, thought-provoking and practical. Language style is simple and straightforward, making it accessible to anyone interested in strategy implementation, from employees to business owners/leaders.

Questions at the end of each chapter make this book an interactive tool for anyone who wants to use it to implement strategy. As a bonus, the book is packed with insights which are grouped together at the end for easy and quick reference.

Overall, "The One Hour Strategy" is both a practical book that provides tools for fast implementation in your business and a lifestyle change for those willing to embrace it.

[Zoë Routh · Rating 4 out of 5]

deceptively simple, a helpful,resource to uplevel strategic thinking across an organisation

This is a short, clear and practical approach to tackling strategic thinking as a process throughout the organisation.

Best bits:
‘What is ‘and ‘what if’ questions at the end of each chapter to reevaluate how you do strategy.
The M structure to focus reflection on strategic aspects of the business.
The disruption days that the whole organisation runs.

Loses a star because this may be strategic thinking, but not visionary thinking. And also, writing it as a parable form (the story of a hypothetical CEO talking to a consultant) diminishes the delivery. Just not a fan of parables.

[Alvin Soh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conceptually practical but it’s an over-simplification

I like the one-hour idea as it
- pragmatically delegates strategy work to people all levels
- realistically looks at time horizon of day, week, month which promotes decision making and action taking
- practically focuses on what can be done instead of trying to over-plan.

Key idea is to intertwine 3 dimensional questions into strategy work at all levels
- relevance, progress, mood
- magic | market, money, means, meaning | momentum
- issues, insights, ideas

Good perspective.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief book that describes a method for iterating strategy through the layers of an organization. It made me feel good about the strategy we have in the Fortune 500 company I work for. Ours is set by a core team refreshed every few years, the functions and businesses define how they are contributing to the critical areas of the roadmap that is communicating using various venues across the organization.

[Nischaya Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writer believes and has explained very well that strategic thinking is not something which should get limited to leadership only. Even middle level manager and executives should think strategically, even if the frequency is just one hour a week.
Some practical case studies would have made the book more interesting.

Impressed by the punch line "everybody doesn't know everything and nobody knows nothing" . It highlights inclusivity even in the strategic planning purpose.

[Yasser Elsamadisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing piece of valuable insight by Jeroen Kraaijenbrink. Both Interesting language & practical guide for strategy application and execution. I follow Jeroen at LinkedIn and much benefit from his insights as well.

[Hitendra · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book speaks about strategy for company every month and day depending upon the level of hierarchy the only key take away is to execute the strategy by taking actions it too me 3 hours to read this stupid boom :)

[Lorenzo Pezzoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is very short centered on the simple and easy to understand concept of making sure we consider strategy a continuous process. Now, let’s see how easy it is to implement.

[Sydney Generoso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to the audio book - good points but was repetitive and could’ve been 15 mins instead of 2 hours

[Petri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Approach this as a very opinionated pamphlet on a way to roll out a company wide strategy process and you might just like it. Assuming it's a non-fiction book you might be a bit disappointed, like I was.

[Simon Desrosiers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great approach to developing strategic thinking across teams by involving everyone, not only executives.