Book SummaryThe Crux, by Richard P. Rumelt

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Crux

Do you have a complex problem you can’t seem to crack? According to Richard Rumelt in The Crux, you have to first identify its core problem (which Rumelt refers to as “the crux”). From there, you can build a successful strategy that not only solves the problem, but also keeps you from getting bogged down by less important issues.

Rumelt is a strategy expert and professor emeritus at UCLA Anderson School of Management. He has decades of experience in strategic consulting and is the author of Good Strategy Bad Strategy, a guide...

The Crux Summary What Is the Core Problem in Strategy?

All businesses will face major issues in their operations. For example, a company may create a new market with an innovative product but find that, despite high demand, they’re unable to turn a profit. Or a longstanding company might see their competitors overtaking their market share despite doing everything they can to remain competitive.

Rumelt focuses on complex, broad issues, which he says don’t have:

• Alternatives for solutions: You don’t know your options, so you can’t choose a direction based on what worked in the past.
• Reliable testing methods: You can come up with new solutions, but you can’t test them before trying them—so you don’t know what their outcome would be.

To illustrate what a broad issue might look like, imagine a pharmaceutical company that needs to develop a drug for a rare, novel disease. The disease doesn’t respond to any existing treatment (so there are no known alternatives), and the nature of the disease makes it impossible to test the drug on living subjects (so there are no options for testing). This company is facing a broad issue that will require a brand new approach.

Viewing Broad Issues as Wicked Problems

Rumelt’s...

The Crux Summary How to Identify the Core Problem

Now that we’ve explained what the core problem is and why it’s important, we’ll discuss how you can identify it. According to Rumelt, the purpose of this process is to fully explore and examine the broad issue you’re facing. If you don’t understand what challenges the broad issue comprises, you can’t identify which of those challenges is the most significant.

Once you’ve confirmed you have a broad issue, you can begin identifying all the smaller challenges that comprise it. This process consists of three steps: 1) gathering information, 2) grouping your challenges, and 3) distilling these into your core problem.

Step 1: Gather Information

To gather information about your broad issue, make a list of every aspect of that issue. That includes not only the challenges it involves, but also the potential solutions and the opportunities your solutions might lead to. Seek input from your executive team and any employees who may have insight into the broad issue. These tactics will help you avoid the tunnel vision that causes you to focus only on the first few problems that you think of.

(Shortform note: You can use questioning techniques to help you gather information...

The Crux Summary How to Use Your Core Problem to Formulate Your Strategy

Once you’ve correctly identified the core problem of the broad issue you’re facing, you can begin working toward a solution for that issue. Rumelt explains that the way to overcome issues is through a powerful strategy—a combination of policy and actions geared toward problem-solving. The core problem tells you what challenge to focus on, but the strategy tells you how to approach it.

After identifying the core problem, create a strategy that will guide your actions in addressing this critical challenge. This strategy should 1) be based on solving a problem, not achieving a goal, 2) include near-term objectives, 3) utilize your organization’s unique advantages, and 4) be strategically coherent. We’ll discuss each of these characteristics in detail next.

(Shortform note: Rumelt goes into greater detail about what constitutes a powerful strategy in Good Strategy Bad Strategy. He explains that just having a strategy is a strategy in itself, because it keeps you from getting swept up in focusing only on...

The Crux Summary Implementing Your Strategy

Once you’ve identified your core problem and used it to devise a powerful strategy, it’s time to put that strategy into action. Rumelt says this requires you to overcome resistance within your organization and authoritatively make decisions that may not always be popular.

Overcoming Organizational Resistance

Rumelt explains that the biggest roadblocks in effective strategy implementation often come from the organization itself. This is particularly true of larger, more successful organizations. Such establishments are strong in that they’ve figured out how to run on a large scale, but this success can lead to organizational inertia: They become complacent, and they’re resistant to changing traditions and established systems due to bureaucracy, a lack of clear guidelines, and a culture that values conformity over creativity.

For example, a long-established bank may have found that during their inception, their personal interactions with customers gave them an edge over their competitors. However, as technology in the industry advances, the company struggles to adopt digital banking solutions due to outdated IT systems and resistance from employees accustomed to...

Shortform Exercise: Identify Your Core Problem and Formulate a Strategy

Rumelt argues that to solve broad issues, you need to identify the core problem and build a strategy around it. This exercise will help you apply Rumelt’s approach to a challenge you’re facing.

Think about a broad issue you’re currently facing in your professional or personal life. Briefly describe this issue.