---
type: claim
domain: grand-strategy
description: "Under high uncertainty, effective strategy sets objectives that resolve ambiguity and build capability rather than specifying endpoints -- the first step creates the visibility for the second"
confidence: likely
source: "Rumelt (2011), Clausewitz 'On War' (1832), Gaddis 'On Grand Strategy' (2018), Boyd (OODA loop)"
created: 2026-04-21
related_claims:
  - "strategy-is-a-design-problem-not-a-decision-problem-because-value-comes-from-constructing-a-coherent-configuration-where-parts-interact-and-reinforce-each-other"
  - "riding-waves-of-change-requires-anticipating-the-attractor-state-and-positioning-before-incumbents-respond-through-their-predictable-inertia"
  - "existential-risk-breaks-trial-and-error-because-the-first-failure-is-the-last-event"
---

# The more uncertain the environment the more proximate the objective must be because you cannot plan a detailed path through fog

Proximate objectives are goals that are close enough to be achievable and concrete enough to be actionable, while simultaneously building capability or information that makes the next objective visible. They are the fundamental unit of strategy under uncertainty.

Clausewitz identified this as the "fog of war" problem: in complex, adversarial environments, detailed plans break down because the environment responds to your actions. You cannot plan a 10-step sequence because the outcome of step 1 changes the conditions for step 2. The response: set objectives that are achievable given current capability and that, once achieved, reveal the next objective.

Rumelt's example is Kennedy's moon speech: "land a man on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade." This is a proximate objective because it is (1) specific enough to coordinate action, (2) feasible given existing capability trajectory, and (3) resolution-creating -- achieving it develops capabilities (materials science, navigation, life support) whose applications extend far beyond the moon mission itself. Contrast with "become the leading space power" -- which is a wish, not a proximate objective.

The principle connects to military strategy (Boyd's OODA loop: observe-orient-decide-act faster than the enemy, where each cycle creates new information), startup strategy (minimum viable product: build the smallest thing that tests your core assumption), and evolutionary strategy (organisms don't plan -- they exploit local gradients that happen to build capability for future environments).

The deepest implication: under high uncertainty, the value of a strategy is not how close it gets you to the ultimate goal. It's how much it increases your ability to see, respond, and create options. A strategy that achieves a modest objective but opens four new paths is strictly better than a strategy that achieves an ambitious objective but leaves you in a dead end.

## Evidence
- Kennedy moon program (1961-1969) -- proximate objective created NASA's capability base, spin-off technologies worth estimated $7 for every $1 invested
- Boyd's OODA loop -- faster orientation cycles consistently defeat larger, slower forces (Gulf War air campaign as canonical case)
- Amazon Web Services -- started as internal infrastructure (proximate), discovered it was a product (emergent), now dominant cloud platform
- Lean startup methodology -- build-measure-learn as institutionalized proximate objective setting

## Challenges
- Proximate objectives can become an excuse for lack of ambition -- "just take the next step" produces random walks, not strategic progress
- The line between a proximate objective and a retreat from ambition is contextual and hard to draw in advance
