For something so essential, "strategy" is often misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misapplied, and given the complex challenges facing contemporary organizations–and entire societies–we must grow more and better strategists. Tackling three simple yet sweeping questions, Cultivating the Strategic Mind answers: (1) What is strategy, and why aren't more leaders better strategists? (2) While strategy is foundational in exemplary organizations, why are so many others missing it altogether? (3) How can I apply strategy in palpable, pragmatic ways to the benefit of those around me? A breezy writing style, intuitive models, research-based solutions, and sticky storytelling make Cultivating the Strategic Mind an easy, stimulating, fun, and immensely credible approach toward developing strategists for our evolving world of work. Increasingly regarded as a classic in its domain, Cultivating the Strategic Mind is the must-have handbook for every professional strategist and leader journeying to become visionary, creator, and architect of strategy.
The first book in Bob Gorzynski's acclaimed strategic thinking trilogy. The Strategic Mind provides a framework for developing a deeper, more holistic form of thinking using seven core disciplines. Packed with examples and case studies, the book provides both theoretical insight and practical guidance for the 21st-century manager. "The Strategic Mind is unique in its class and should be on the list of essential reading for strategy courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level." Sue Davis, Deputy Dean, University of Gloucestershire Business School "A refreshing, often moving, and much needed new look at strategy in practice." Jeff Watkins, formerly Director of Postgraduate Management Programmes, University of Bristol "Distils the strategic essence from an astonishingly wide range of business and other stories." Simon Burke, Chairman, Superquinn supermarkets and Majestic Wine plc "Excellent - very readable and offers many insightful perspectives on people and situations directly relevant to the world today." Simon Wright, CEO, Virgin Entertainment Group International "This book is an inspiration to all of us wanting to explore our own strategy for a more meaningful life." John Tucker, Founder and Director, The International Centre for Families in Business "An essential book for the 21st-century strategic leader. If you are looking for a new framework to help you make difficult choices in your organisation with clarity and reality, then this book is the one for you!" June Burrough, Founder and Centre Director, Pierian Centre, Bristol. Bob Gorzynski is a writer, teacher and mentor, specialising in strategic thinking: seeing the 'big picture' and learning how to tap into our full creative potential. He is passionate about the natural world and protecting it for future generations, focusing on how to develop holistic strategies for the future (including working with environmental organisations as part of his PhD at Bangor University). He has written four published books on strategy and numerous other articles and is the Founder of the Centre for Strategic Thinking (www.spiritofstrategy.org).
In this thoroughly revised edition of The Chinese Strategic Mind, Hong Liu underscores how the distinctive foundations of Chinese and Western thought lead to divergent focuses, objectives, and approaches. He aptly introduces a framework for comprehending the Chinese strategic mindset, exploring its origins, evolution, and implementation.
Ntsikie is a management consultant whose area of focus is strategy development, facilitation and implementation using various management practices, techniques and tools. She has experience working with public, private and NGO sectors, including facilitation with Boards of Directors. She is an avid practitioner of business excellence models and has proven track record applying her skills.
Sustainable company growth isn't just a pipedream. This 3-part blueprint is your guide to avoiding the traps that cause growth to stall. As companies mature, their underlying growth naturally slows—this is called the 'growth curse'. It's a pervasive problem that plagues companies, CEOs, and board members alike. In order to safeguard a company's future, a strategic form of governance in which the board plays a more active role on behalf of all stakeholders, must be activated. This book is comprised of 3 parts. First it shows companies how to identify the traditional traps that hinder growth. The second part provides companies with a blueprint for building their board, defining long-term strategy, and adjustments necessary to serve continued growth. The final part delves into the specific ways that the board and executives must collaborate in relation to strategic renewal. Reimagining the limits of growth and how companies are run as a consequence provides an escape from the 'growth curse' at last.
Discover how to become an effective strategic thinker Some people seem to achieve the best results, again and again. Is it luck? Or is it strategy? How to Think Strategically equips you with the skills you need to make the best decisions and develop a powerful strategic mindset. This hands-on guide tackles both the thinking and the doing, helping you develop a robust strategic plan. It offers a six-step framework that addresses key questions, including: Which core challenges do I need to overcome? How do I manage uncertainty and risk? How do I execute my business strategy? The full text downloaded to your computer With eBooks you can: search for key concepts, words and phrases make highlights and notes as you study share your notes with friends eBooks are downloaded to your computer and accessible either offline through the Bookshelf (available as a free download), available online and also via the iPad and Android apps. Upon purchase, you'll gain instant access to this eBook. Time limit The eBooks products do not have an expiry date. You will continue to access your digital ebook products whilst you have your Bookshelf installed.
"Technobody--maker of wearable technologies--is under attack. Its strategic plan is slowly being killed by the top strategy villains every company faces: bad meetings (Meeting Menace), fire drills (Fire Driller), silos (Silo-Clops), too many priorities (Dr. Yes), and many others. They are members of the Anti-Strategy Squad (A.S.S.), a gang whose mission is to cause mass strategycide and global bankruption. But Technobody will not fail without a fight. Led by its fearless managers and three superheroes--StrategyMan, Innovatara, and Purposeidon--it will summon all of its strategic thinking powers to wage one final war against bad strategy and save its plan. New research shows that the No. 1 most important leadership capability for executives is strategic thinking. Yet, only 3 out of every 10 people are strategic. With the leading cause of business failure being bad strategy, it's critical that you and your team are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and tools to think strategically"--Amazon.com
How "Aha!" really happens. When do you get your best ideas? You probably answer "At night," or "In the shower," or "Stuck in traffic." You get a flash of insight. Things come together in your mind. You connect the dots. You say to yourself, "Aha! I see what to do." Brain science now reveals how these flashes of insight happen. It's a special form of intuition. We call it strategic intuition, because it gives you an idea for action-a strategy. Brain science tells us there are three kinds of intuition: ordinary, expert, and strategic. Ordinary intuition is just a feeling, a gut instinct. Expert intuition is snap judgments, when you instantly recognize something familiar, the way a tennis pro knows where the ball will go from the arc and speed of the opponent's racket. (Malcolm Gladwell wrote about this kind of intuition in Blink.) The third kind, strategic intuition, is not a vague feeling, like ordinary intuition. Strategic intuition is a clear thought. And it's not fast, like expert intuition. It's slow. That flash of insight you had last night might solve a problem that's been on your mind for a month. And it doesn't happen in familiar situations, like a tennis match. Strategic intuition works in new situations. That's when you need it most. Everyone knows you need creative thinking, or entrepreneurial thinking, or innovative thinking, or strategic thinking to succeed in the modern world. All these kinds of thinking happen through flashes of insight--strategic intuition. And now that we know how it works, you can learn to do it better. That's what this book is about. Over the past ten years, William Duggan has conducted pioneering research on strategic intuition and for the past three years has taught a popular course at Columbia Business School on the subject. He now gives us this eye-opening book that shows how strategic intuition lies at the heart of great achievements throughout human history: the scientific and computer revolutions, women's suffrage, the civil rights movement, modern art, microfinance in poor countries, and more. Considering the achievements of people and organizations, from Bill Gates to Google, Copernicus to Martin Luther King, Picasso to Patton, you'll never think the same way about strategy again. Three kinds of strategic ideas apply to human achievement: * Strategic analysis, where you study the situation you face * Strategic intuition, where you get a creative idea for what to do * Strategic planning, where you work out the details of how to do it. There is no shortage of books about strategic analysis and strategic planning. This new book by William Duggan is the first full treatment of strategic intuition. It's the missing piece of the strategy puzzle that makes essential reading for anyone interested in achieving more in any field of human endeavor.
A brilliant counter-narrative for restoring humanity to the bottom-line, numbers-obsessed culture of the modern, 21st century workplace. In a time of unusual stress, with a pandemic raging and economic insecurity and dislocation increasing, we need to rediscover the values that make us human, that give us a sense of meaning in order to increase our potential for productivity and success. What stands in the way, however, is a professional culture where human connectedness is a lost art: the frenzied numbers-obsessed, bottom-line thinking, the "scratch and claw" workplace, and organizations where the boss can literally be an algorithm. Through moving stories and a modern spin on the ancient framework of Socratic dialogue, David Brendel and Ryan Stelzer show how to move forward and build workplaces fit for humans through what uniquely defines us as human beings: our ability to think, talk, and create. By thinking carefully about a challenge, engaging peers in dialogue via open-ended questioning, and building a strategy collaboratively. Think Talk Create enables us to cultivate trust and define collective values, seemingly "soft" attributes that nonetheless markedly increase innovation and, ultimately, financial performance. Think: Step back, slow down, avoid impulsive, short-sighted decision making. Talk: Ask non-judgmental, open ended questions, with your mind as a blank slate, pursuing the problem like an empirical scientist or a judge presiding in court. Create: Bring something new and meaningful into play, a novel solution to a pesky problem that can move the world in surprising, positive directions.
Today’s organizations face difficult challenges in order to remain competitive—the quickening pace of change, increasing uncertainty, growing ambiguity, and complexity. To meet these challenges, organizations must broaden the scope of leadership responsibility for strategic leadership and engage more people in the process of leadership. In Becoming a Strategic Leader Rich Hughes and Kate Beatty from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) offer executives and managers a handbook for implementing a strategic leadership process that reaches leaders at all levels of organizations. Based on CCL’s successful Developing the Strategic Leader Program, this book outlines the framework of strategic leadership and contains practical suggestions on how to develop the individual, team, and organizational skills needed for institutions to become more adaptable, flexible, and resilient. The authors also show how individual managers can exercise effective strategic leadership through their distinctive and systemic approach—thinking, acting, and influencing.
