Strategy Is Everything: 24 Equations

This time, we feature Tetsushi Takimoto's book "Strategy Is Everything" (Shinchosha). I briefly mentioned him when covering "Zero to One" previously; he was my junior high and high school classmate. Back then, he was the class prankster, but he was already incredibly clever. Seeing him succeed now makes perfect sense.

After graduating from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Law, he became an assistant professor, then joined McKinsey. He is currently a Visiting Associate Professor at Kyoto University and an angel investor. He himself says his main profession is as an investor. He has already published several books, including "I Want to Give You Weapons" and "Decision Thinking as a Weapon."

A tool for devising and refining one's own strategy

Given he's an investor, he must have substantial capital, and his motto is " I must make every investment I make succeed. " What kind of strategy does a man who can state that with such conviction offer?

This book presents 24 "strategic equations" through concrete, recent case studies organized into the following chapters, serving as tools for individuals to devise and refine their own strategies.

I Hit Content Has a "Mechanism"
II Fools Are Not "Valued" in the Labor Market
III Projects Without "Innovation" Are Not Rewarded
IV See Through the "Plot" Hidden in Information
V Human "Value" Is Determined by Education
VI Politics Is a "Game" That Moves Society
VII For Japanese Who Cannot Possess "Strategy"

There is no preface; the main content begins immediately with Chapter I.
Chapter VII at the end of the volume serves as a combined introduction and conclusion, outlining his strategic thinking.

In other words, strategizing means evaluating past competition from a completely different perspective, analyzing each person's strengths and weaknesses, and then making entirely different efforts and placing bets differently than others. (P.245)

All the equations presented based on this philosophy are fascinating, but I particularly resonated with Chapter I's "3. Rebuilding Brand Value - The Olympic Bid Equation" and Chapter II's "6. Stop Doing Work Computers Can Do - The Editor's Equation."

The Olympic Bid Equation states:
The most crucial element in a presentation is understanding "what the audience seeks." This determines both the content and its presentation. (P.37)
The "conditions for victory" lie in discerning the essence. (P.38)
As someone involved in advertising, these are things I should always keep in mind (though external circumstances often make it difficult). The Editor's Equation introduces
When creating a book with him, the process differs slightly from the standard bookmaking approach. First, draft about twice the length of the final manuscript and show it to various potential readers. Based on their reactions, not only do you select and refine the content, but you also reassess the reader profile. (P.71)
This approach by an editor renowned as a hit maker—one that makes you think, "Wow, they go this far?"—is something I felt we should learn from, starting with their mindset.

Identifying change early, predicting the future, and making successful investments

What I found particularly insightful about Mr. Takimoto's own approach and mindset, similar to Blue Ocean Strategy but expressed more succinctly and powerfully, were his favorite phrases like
"Do what you can easily do, but do it thoroughly." (P.95)
This is what he does to spot changes early, predict the future, and make successful investments.

This is because innovation, and more broadly, capitalism itself, generates its greatest value in the process where minority opinions break through existing majority views and transform into new majority opinions. (P.108)

That's why I believe it's critically important to possess and be aware of numerous small futures (possibilities) already unfolding around me. (P.157)

In this age of information explosion where discernment is essential, I too considered it a vital caution not to misjudge reality by only picking up opinions that suit me. But he takes it a step further:
Instead, "take the opposite view." That is, seek out ideas and facts contrary to your own hypothesis and verify them from a falsificationist perspective—assessing how reliable they are. (P.148)
By going this far, you can spot upcoming innovations and win big in investments too.

Personally, I couldn't help but grin when I easily imagined who he had in mind for the following example:

"People from the same club tend to follow similar career paths." (P.186)

But isn't there more to it than just whether your parents are self-employed or not? Or, you know, that guy would be a perfect counterexample... It's the classmate's nature to want to nitpick a bit.

He says that reading is fundamentally a combat sport where you spar with the author's opinions, and he welcomes criticism of this book in the afterword. Next time, I'd like to grab some meat and spar over opinions on other chapters too.