Every statement ‘Strategy is an art, not a science‘ knocks back any chance of being taken seriously by management colleagues.

Some such statement comes up on just about every strategy discussion group I follow, but it’s a false dichotomy, and untrue in any case. The ‘Picasso’ analogy is a nonsense – not only is every work by true artists highly creative, but every brush-stroke is too.

Creativity is a minuscule element in strategy – spotting some business idea that no-one else has ...