Chapter 5: Develop strategic thinking & proactive planning
Increase your impact by thinking strategically
Walk through these questions each time you need to think strategically, and you’ll develop the habit of thinking strategically.
You can also ask your favorite AI tool, “how can I be more strategic with” and explain the situation. AI can be a thought partner.
Exercise:
Ask yourself these questions each time you need to think strategically:
Ask probing questions:
What is the big picture?
What are the potential impacts?
What are the short-term and long-term impacts?
Who else is impacted by this?
Who else needs to be involved?
Observe and reflect:
Research trends and patterns in your market or industry
Look for emerging issues
Research competitors
Consider opposing ideas:
What are your assumptions?
What are your biases?
What else are you not thinking of?
Who else can you talk to?
These questions will help to stretch your mind, to think in different ways, and to think from multiple perspectives.
Action: what’s a topic that you can think strategically about? Take your topic and ask the questions above.
Continue to practice taking topics through these questions. You’ll also identify other questions you find strategic and important to add to the list of questions.