Being Strategic by Linda Hatcher
In a performance appraisal, have you ever been criticized for not being more strategic in your thinking? Many executives and managers have. The problem is that there is little agreement on what it means to “be strategic.” According Erica Anderson (an accomplished author, coach and advisor to senior executives), “People speak about being strategic as though it was inborn: either you have it or you do not … like the ability to carry a tune or roll your tongue.”
Over the years Anderson has made it her business to obtain clarity about what this mysterious thing – “being strategic” – is. She says, “I paid close attention to those who were widely seen as strategic thinkers, and noticed how they operated … I then experimented to see if that way of operating was transferable … fortunately, I came to believe that the quality of “being strategic” was both definable and highly learnable.”
In the February edition of the FREE Leadership Guide Magazine we feature two articles about how to become more strategic in your thinking. The first article is entitled "Practical Strategic Leadership" (CLICK HERE) and the second is " Leader in Action" – an Interview with Erica Anderson about Strategic Leadership. (CLICK HERE). We hope you find these articles as valuable as we did.
INSPIRING LEADERSHIP QUOTES –
by Erika Andersen.
The single obstacle to seeing reality clearly might be our wide variety of implicit beliefs about where you want to go.
If your organization did not exist, what would not happen in the world or what would happen less well?
Remember the mindset of a facilitator: to advocate for fairness, honesty and consensus, rather than for a particular person, point-of-view, or solution.
Ask, are you stating things as they are or as you would like them to be?
Don’t ignore reality or set the bar too low.
What core directional choices or efforts will you need to make in order to move from your current reality to your hoped-for-future, and what strategies will implement them?
