Spy's Guide Blog by John Braddock

The Framework (And Strategy) Of Left-Center-Right Politics

The Framework (And Strategy) Of Left-Center-Right Politics

The framework in A Spy’s Guide To Strategy is a powerful tool. It’s useful for simplifying complex strategic situations. So you can make decisions. So you can take action. It can even simplify one of the more complex situations in the modern world: Politics. Especially, Left-Center-Right politics. First, we look forward. All the way to the Endgame. There are three possible Endgames of Left-Center-Right politics: The Left takes the leadership role. The Center takes the leaders

The First Step Of A Leader

The First Step Of A Leader

In A Spy’s Guide To Strategy, we talk about three steps every strategist must take: 1. Imagine the Endgame 2. Reason Backward 3. Take Action For most people, the difficult part is reasoning backward. That’s why A Spy’s Guide To Strategy spends a lot of time on a simple shortcut: the framework of Positive-Sum and Zero-Sum Games. For most people, imagining an Endgame and taking action are easier. Unless, you’re a leader. If you’re a leader, the most difficult part can be gettin

The Conflict And "Institutions" Of Endgames

The Conflict And "Institutions" Of Endgames

The First Rule Of Strategy is "Look forward and reason backward." Looking forward requires imagination. Looking forward means you imagine a future. A future with people in a place with things to sustain it. A future where people are happy to be together. A future that's a Positive-Sum Game. If that Positive-Sum Game is the last game you can imagine, it's also your Endgame. From your Endgame, you reason backward. That's the beginning of strategy. You imagine an Endgame and rea

The Hero's Journey As A Strategy

The Hero's Journey As A Strategy

An astute reader of A Spy’s Guide To Strategy wrote, “I've known about the Hero’s Journey concept for years as a storytelling formula but never thought of it as a strategy!” The “Hero’s Journey” was famously described by Joseph Campbell. He said it’s in stories. It’s in myths. It’s even in religious sacraments and psychological development. He also called it the “monomyth.” If you want to learn more, read Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces. The connection to str

The Opening Of "A Spy's Guide To Strategy"

The Opening Of "A Spy's Guide To Strategy"

A Spy's Guide To Strategy is now available in the Amazon Kindle store. Here's the opening: ----------- He told me a lie. And then, more lies. A whole bunch of lies. But that wasn’t the problem. Lies are normal, when you’re a spy. The problem was that it was the wrong kind of lie. Usually, a spy’s lies: Conceal something and/or; Protect the spy. Sometimes, a spy’s lies do both. But these lies didn’t. They didn’t do either one. They did the opposite. The lies exposed him. And d

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