From the McKinsey Quarterly 2002, via a friend:

Uncertainty and rising levels of risk make it impossible for companies to determine the future. But a portfolio-of-initiatives approach to strategy can help ensure that companies take full advantage of their best opportunities without taking unnecessary risks.

I get the sense that this approach is not what most people mean when they say the word ‘strategy’. I think most people imagine ‘strategy’ means ‘plan’, means ‘manageable’, means ‘predictable’. I prefer the portfolio-of-initiatives approach. I think it’s something Google has right – just take a look at the speed at which it rolls out (and kills) initiatives, and how it builds the applications first, with the business models following later. Obviously, this approach is harder when you make widgets than when you make nifty web apps. But it’s still possible, and it’s nice to see a view of strategy less fatalistic and more fallible.