
In "The Crux," strategy legend Richard Rumelt reveals how to identify your organization's make-or-break challenge. Named a Financial Times Book of the Year, it's transformed how Intel and Netflix tackle problems. What critical challenge are you missing right now?
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Warren Buffett doesn't hand out book recommendations lightly. Yet in 2022, he called Richard Rumelt's "The Crux" the most important business book of the year. This wasn't mere endorsement-it was recognition of a fundamental truth most leaders miss: success doesn't come from grand visions or ambitious goals, but from identifying the one critical challenge that, once solved, unlocks everything else. Think of it like a climber facing a massive rock face. Every route has a crux-the hardest sequence of moves that determines success or failure. Master that sequence, and the summit becomes reachable. Miss it, and you're stuck halfway up with nowhere to go. This insight transforms how we think about strategy entirely.