Thursday, December 6, 2018

“We often think about history as if historical insight is some artifact that’s stored in this vast warehouse and if we could just find the box with the right artifact then we’ll figure this situation out… and I don’t think that’s quite accurate.”
– Dr. Andrew A. Hill, U.S. Army War College (USAWC) –

Strategy is almost always informed by the past and what has come before. Yet, as Dr. Hill notes above, looking to the past as if it’s a magic box filled with answers is ultimately a self-defeating endeavor. Good strategy endeavors to learn from history, yet moves adroitly into the future with an understanding that the past does not predict the future. For more on the relationship between strategy and history, click here for the podcast “History Teaches Us” Nothing: The “Lessons” of History (Part 1).