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You can’t be all things to all people.

Michael Porter

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.
MICHAEL PORTER

Health History Medicine Organization Patient Service
Strategic thinking rarely occurs spontaneously.
MICHAEL PORTER

Occur Rare Strategy
I teach in the medical school, the School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, and the Business School. And it’s the best perch… because most of my work crosses boundaries.
MICHAEL PORTER

Boundary Government Medicine Teaching
The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.
MICHAEL PORTER

Choice Essence Strategy Yourself
Technology has given us this wonderful opportunity to have low energy costs. We have to seize that, rather than keep debating and discussing and fighting over it.
MICHAEL PORTER

Cost Discussion Energy Fight Low Opportunity Technology Wonderful
Change brings opportunities. On the other hand, change can be confusing.
MICHAEL PORTER

Change Confusion Hands Opportunity
If a strategy meets a goal: It’s working. If a strategy meets a target: It’s a success.
MICHAEL PORTER

Goal Inspirational Strategy Success Work
A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique.
MICHAEL PORTER

Company Seek Strategy Territory Unique
Companies operating in urban communities have a tremendous ripple effect.
MICHAEL PORTER

Community Company Effect Urban
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.
MICHAEL PORTER

Consistency Direction Each Other Improvement Strategy
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.
MICHAEL PORTER

Rival Success Try Yourself
Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value.
MICHAEL PORTER

Activity Choice Competition Deliver Different Unique
Risk is a function of how poorly a strategy will perform if the ‘wrong’ scenario occurs.
MICHAEL PORTER

Function Performance Poor Risk Strategy Wrong
Billions are wasted on ineffective philanthropy. Philanthropy is decades behind business in applying rigorous thinking to the use of money.
MICHAEL PORTER

Business Money Philanthropy Thinking Time Wasted Time
The best CEOs I know are teachers, and at the core of what they teach is strategy.
MICHAEL PORTER

Best Myself Strategy Teacher
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.
MICHAEL PORTER

Big Goal Leadership Problem Profit Yourself

You can’t be all things to all people.

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You can’t be all things to all people.

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