Saturday, May 31, 2014

More on Assessing Strategically from the Perspective of Sherlock Holmes


Sherlock Holmes Quotes
'My name is Sherlock Holmes.  It is my business to know what other people don't know.'
-The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

---
'I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection.'
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

---
'There is nothing like first-hand evidence.'
-A Study in Scarlet

 ---
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."
-The Hound of the Baskervilles

Chapter 3: "The Problem"

---
'You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.'
- A Scandal in Bohemia

---
'It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.'
-A Scandal in Bohemia

---
'I never guess. It is a shocking habit,—destructive to the logical faculty.'
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"

---
'You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.'
-The Bascombe Valley Mystery

---
'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.'
-The Bascombe Valley Mystery

---
"'Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?'

'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.'

'The dog did nothing in the night-time.'

'That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.'"

Exchange between Inspector Gregory and Sherlock Holmes
-Silver Blaze

---
'Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.'
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

 ---
'How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?'
-The Sign of Four

Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration

---
'...when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'
-The Blanched Soldier

---
'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'
-The Beryl Coronet

---
'Come, Watson, come!' he cried. 'The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!'
-The Adventure of the The Abbey Grange

 ---
"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."
-The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

  ---
'I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to live for?'
-The Sign of Four

---
'They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,' he remarked with a smile. 'It's a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.'
-A Study in Scarlet

---
'There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.'
-A Study in Scarlet

 ---
'I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.'
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 3: "Light in the Darkness"

  ---
'Which is it today,' I asked, 'morphine or cocaine?'
He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-leather volume which he had opened.
'It is cocaine,' he said, 'a seven-per-cent solution. Would you like to try it?'
An exchange between Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

 ---
'I never make exceptions.  An exception disproves the rule.'
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 2: "The Statement of the Case'

---
Holmes took his revolver from his drawer and slipped it in his pocket.  It was clear that he thought that our night's work might be a serious one.
Observation of Dr. Watson
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 3: "In Quest of a Solution"

---
So silent and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law instead of exerting them in its defence.
Observation of Dr. Watson
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration"

---
'I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.'
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"

 ---
'What one man can invent another can discover.'
-The Adventure of the Dancing Man

---
'The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning.'
-The Sign of Four

---
 'I think that there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.'
-The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

---
 'What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear?  It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.'
-The Cardboard Box

 ---
When I glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man. 
Dr. Watson Observing Sherlock Holmes
-The Crooked Man

---
 'Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental.' 
-The Crooked Man 

 ---
 He [Holmes] loved to lie in the very centre of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive to every little rumor or suspicion of unsolved crime.
Dr. Watson's Observation of Sherlock Holmes
-The Resident Patient

---
 'My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built.' 
-The Man with the Twisted Lip

---
"My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession,—or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world."
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

---
 'When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals.  He has the nerve and he has the knowledge.' 
-The Adventure of the Speckled Band

---
'Nothing clears up a case so much as stating it to another person.' 
-Silver Blaze

---
'I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I am by no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you.'
-The Final Problem

 ---
 'I confess that I have been blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.' 
-The Man with the Twisted Lip

---
'A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library where he can get it if he wants.' 
-The Five Orange Pips

---
'I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose.  A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands on it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic.  He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order.  It is a mistake to think that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent.  Depend uon it - there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before.  It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.' 
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"

---
'It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.'
-A Case of Identity

---
'It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.'
-The Copper Beeches

---
  On this page are some of the most famous and perhaps not so famous quotes from the Sherlock Holmes short stories and books as written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These quotes and sayings are from the great Detective Sherlock Holmes, his friend, Dr. John Watson, and others.  For each quote, the name of the person speaking and the short story or novel the quote was copied from have been provided. More of the quote is provided to show context for some of the more famous quotes. There are hundreds of quotes and we seek to be the most complete source of s on the Internet.  Feel free to share any quotes and sayings that we may have missed. Dont forget to provide the source of any quote you submit.  All quotes on this web site were written or spoken by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unless otherwise stated.

--- Robert Downey Jr,  Benedict Cumberbatch . 

Source: Sherlock Holmes Quotes 

When the crime case arrives to the front door of Sherlock Holmes, the complexity of the crime has already exceed the skill set of the pseudo experts.  They have met the standards of the Peter Principle.

After some rounds of inquiring and assessing, he triumphs at the conclusion of of the story by questioning the quality of certain obvious points while identifying the non-obvious points.


You could say that Holmes usually searched for the zebra not the horses.


Suggestion
From reading Sherlock Holmes, the observant strategist realized that knowing a collage of strategies and the act of assessing strategically are worthless if one is not mindfully observant of the specifics behind the factors. 

Identifying the key performance indicators (KPI) for one's strategic situation is the easy part. Pinpointing the prevailing tactical factors behind each KPI for your situation is the real challenge.  We presumed that you definitively know the reasoning behind that point  If not, contact us.

No comments: