LEADERSHIP BOOKSHELF
April 2026 | The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine 13
LEADERSHIP BOOKSHELF
LESSONS FROM“ STRATEGY: A HISTORY” BY LAWRENCE FREEDMAN
What Police Executives Can Learn From Lawrence Freedman’ s Landmark Study of Strategy. Few modern works attempt to explain strategic thinking across the full sweep of human experience. Lawrence Freedman’ s Strategy: A History does exactly that— and more. In more than 700 pages, Freedman pulls together the intellectual traditions of ancient myths, classical warfare, revolutionary politics, counterinsurgency, nuclear deterrence, organizational theory, and modern corporate strategy.
The result is not simply a history of strategic thought. It is a profound exploration of how humans try( and often fail) to impose order on a world that refuses to behave, especially when opponents have their own ideas.
For police executives, particularly those leading agencies in complex, politically sensitive environments— Freedman’ s insights offer essential lessons. Strategy, as he demonstrates, is not about prediction or perfect planning. It is about navigating uncertainty, shaping context, influencing others, building legitimacy, and adapting continuously.
This article distills the key insights from the book’ s major sections and translates them into practical leadership lessons for modern policing.
I. Strategy Begins with the Political Environment Freedman argues that before strategy is military, tactical, or organizational, it is fundamentally political. Humans begin strategizing when they confront conflict— between tribes, city-states, leaders, or organizations, with interests and motives that collide.
In strategic history, political context shapes:
• what goals are possible
• which allies matter
• how legitimacy is built
• when force undermines long-term aims
For police executives, the parallels are unmistakable. Chiefs operate within a complicated political ecosystem:
• elected officials
• governing bodies
• communities
• internal stakeholders
• media
• advocacy groups
Strategy, in policing as in classical statecraft, cannot be separated from this environment. Leaders who ignore politics invite strategic failure.
Lesson for Chiefs:
Effective strategy begins with reading the political landscape, not writing a plan.
II. The Ancient World: Strategy Before Strategy
Freedman traces strategic origins to early myths and epic stories that predate formal doctrine but reveal how ancient societies conceptualized conflict, cunning, and fate.
In Homer’ s epics or the Hebrew Bible, victory often requires:
• deception( Odysseus and the Trojan Horse)
• moral authority
• alliances
• improvisation