6 habits of True Strategic Leaders | LinkedIn
6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers | LinkedIn.
Anticipate
Think Critically
Interpret
Decide
Align
Learn
This is a simple analysis from Paul J. H. Schoemaker and rang true for me. As I look at the way I have worked I think the hardest area, the one that is most challenging to me, is the idea of aligning an organization around a clear strategy. You need really brilliant social people to achieve that. It reminds me of the best partnerships I enjoyed at Wieden + Kennedy with Account Directors who really understood the agency and its clients. At Apple this was done very effectively, we always knew exactly where the company was headed and what the company priorities were.
Strategic thinking is its own creative skill. Anticipating the future is about imagining various futures and recognizing which one’s appear to me happening. Peter Schwartz wrote the bible on this in “The Art of the Long View”.
Thinking critically is about being skeptical and inquiring, always asking more questions until you feel you have at least the start of a hypothesis about the challenges ahead. Interpreting information is also a creative activity requiring pattern recognition skills and the ability to consume information in the context of a wide range of other information types.
Decisions are decisions and many people hate them. Yet making a decision and getting it wrong is better than not making a decision. Just ask Congress.
Finally the learning piece. In todays business environment we are busy busy busy and frenetic. I have seen executives with calendars scheduled by the half hour. How can you learn in such an environment? We need space to think and learn, space in our calendars and in our lives. I use travel to learn for example. But I am lucky, I have the time because my strategic thinking is a serious activity for me. I make the time. You will be surprised how often peole believe that a full calendar of meetings represents a productive business life. It is not if you are not learning.
I liked this from Linkedin, it adds value to the experience of their service, so thanks to you folks also.