From the long historiographical tradition of naming eras, from Petrarch's dark age (1330s) and Voltaire (1756) to the three levels of historical time of Fernand Braudel (1949).
Cuts the history of an organization or market into a few named eras at defensible turning points, showing what changed, what carried over, and whether a new era has started.
When to reach for it
A strategy review that asks how the organization got here, or a multiyear initiative that needs a clear before-and-after reading.
How it runs
- State the system being studied and the level of change that counts.
- List candidate turning points and the evidence of change at each.
- Keep three to five turning points.
- Name each era and note its structure, driver, and main constraint.
- Ask what carried forward and what reset between eras.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, 1949
- Letters and poems casting the centuries after Rome as a dark age, 1330s
- Essai sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations, 1756