One way to live your life is one day at a time. These
are people who take things as they come, enjoying the good things in life and
coping when things do not go right. They love routine. They are easy to get
along with.
Another way to address life is with pragmatism. These
are practical people who do things right, get things done, and get the maximum
number of things done every day. They are driven and very efficient but at the
end each day they have the feeling that they have not done enough. They may be hard
to live with but are respected and sometimes admired.
A third way to address life is being a strategic thinker.
These are people who know themselves, know what they want to accomplish, and
what they want to do. They are not concerned with how much they can accomplish
each day but with getting the right things done that move them toward accomplishing
their goals. They are very effective. They are easy to live with but
pragmatists are frequently frustrated with them because strategic thinkers pace
themselves.
Who is a strategic thinker? One who has a dream, an
imagination, a vision of the future as well as strategic intent, a goal(s). This
may be something new that has never been done before or just re-arranging
things that already exist. It may be very simple like Walmart’s “Always low
prices” or highly complex like Apple designing and marketing an iPad. The idea
must be clear in your mind. You must be able to express and communicate it
clearly. This takes place with brain-storming and creativity. The secret to
this is not to evaluate an idea at this point in the process but to keep building
on it. It may seem impossible or at least improbable but that is o.k.
American history has more strategic thinkers than you can
name. Here are just a few:
First, the founding
fathers – George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin
– who conceived of a radical new form of government governed by the people.
They expressed their idea in the founding documents. Their dream seemed
impossible but they sacrificed and won.
Seventy five years
later, Abraham Lincoln saw the issues clearly – preserve the Union and abolish slavery. He expressed his goals in a
speech in Gettysburg , Pennsylvania
Martin Luther King
saw things differently. In his speech “I have a dream” he explained the need to
end evil segregation. From the end of the Civil War it took another 100 years
for Black people to fully enjoy the freedom of the American dream but King made
it happen by his non-violent civil disobedience strategy.
Jack Kennedy
inspired the county with his challenge for men to reach the moon within 10
years.
Ronald Reagan
ended the Cold War without firing a shot by his Star Wars idea. He expressed it
in Berlin
Ophrey Winfrey
became one of the wealthiest women in the world with her idea of a TV show and
pyramiding it into a giant media network. Each of these people had an idea, a dream or a
goal and was able to cast the vision in such a way that people could understand
it and own it.
Once you have your strategic intent in place you can move on
to strategizing. This is determining how you want to accomplish your
goal. It is done by thinking of as many ways as possible that you could accomplish
it. It is trying out various scenarios. It is asking the “what if” questions.
You may have some facts but there are so many variables. Who can know the
future? There is nothing more uncertain than tomorrow. You will intuitively
know which one should be your first try but it may require more than one try.
If the strategy is not right the execution will not work no matter how hard you
work. In the book and movie about the invasion of Europe
during World War II “A Bridge Too Far” tells of faulty strategy where American
soldiers tried to take control of the farthest sixth bridge without success
despite heroic effort. You will know if you have the right strategy because implementation
will flow.
The last step is implementation which is the Action Plan.
It is a “to do” list. It is where reality begins. The list may need revision or
additions as you move forward. Flexibility is required. It may be obvious where
to begin or you may have to just start making things happen. The list is where
the Pragmatist begins by skipping the hard work of thinking things through. Intuition
is the mental process of the mind coming to a conclusion with very limited
information. It works well and we all use it. The Pragmatist substitutes intuition
for the hard work of strategic thinking because he thinks is unnecessary.
Being a strategic thinker is a way of life. It is doing life
differently. It is doing life intentionally. It brings meaning and significance
into your life. Being a strategic thinker is not for everyone. Your basic
temperament or ingrained thinking patterns may block it out. But almost
everyone can benefit from this approach to life. The exception is the Pragmatist
whose mindset blinds him from understanding this concept because he is too preoccupied
doing things. That is alright because the world can always use more doers.
