Rule: Strategy is Diverse, Emergent, and Complicated
Strategy is a diverse collection of moves that are loosely linked together in a semi-coherent direction. Managers who compete on the edge let strategy emerge by making a variety of moves, seeing what happens, and following through on those that work. They end up playing a broader and more surprising set of strategic options than others.
Rule: Stretch Out the Past
On-the-edge managers realize that the past is often the greatest competitive advantage when chasing new opportunities. Most significant, the past lets managers jump-start new opportunities and focus on the truly new.
Rule: Reach Into the Future
On-the-edge managers compete across a longer time horizon than most. Driven by the paranoia that the market is constantly and unpredictably shifting, they frequently probe the future.
