HOW TO THINK STRATEGICALLY

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 – “A government of the people, by the people and for the people”; “All men are created equal.”                                                                                                                          

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, “Tear down this wall”.

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.