“Operational effectiveness and strategy are both essential to superior performance.”

Ultimately, health care fails the most basic test. It’s not organized around the needs of the patient.

If all you’re trying to do is essentially the same thing as your rivals, then it’s unlikely that you’ll be very successful.

The company without a strategy is willing to try anything.

The essence of strategy is that you must set limits on what you’re trying to accomplish.

Good leaders need a positive agenda, not just an agenda of dealing with crisis.

Finally, strategy must have continuity. It can’t be constantly reinvented.

The thing is, continuity of strategic direction and continuous improvement in how you do things are absolutely consistent with each other. In fact, they’re mutually reinforcing.

The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.

Health care historically has been a very siloed field that’s organized around medical specialties – urology, cardiac surgery, and so forth – and around the supply of these specialty services. The patient is the ping-pong ball that moves from service to service.

Efforts to preserve all industries will lower the national standard of living.

If a strategy meets a goal: It’s working. If a strategy meets a target: It’s a success.

Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity.

Sound strategy starts with having the right goal

Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value.

If your goal is anything but profitability – if it’s to be big, or to grow fast, or to become a technology leader – you’ll hit problems.

Without a goal analytics is aimless and worthless.