Product Description: People are discovering they are drowning in a sea of tactical activitiesand short-term operational demands. They find themselves left behind when the needs of their customers change. This book will show you how to allocate time and energy to think ahead, add value, and innovate for the future. It addresses the need to carve out time, learn to tame the operational beast, and get our strategic bearing in life.
Today, managers and individual contributors alike are redefining what it means to truly be successful. People are discovering that too much emphasis is placed on the now; winning and performing current roles and activities. Many people in the workplace have discovered that they are drowning under the weight of tactical activities and short-term operational demands. This book will show you how to allocate some time and energy to think ahead, add value, and innovate for the future. To be exceptional, we need to be effective at both strategy and execution. We need to be great today and prepared to be great tomorrow. This means that we have to carve out some time, learn to tame the operational beast, and get our strategic bearing in life.
Nearly all of the popular books, articles, and training focus on the grand strategic planning at the senior level. There is no question that many organizations have a need for high level corporate strategic planning. However, it is just as important to have everyone in the organization thinking strategically and applying these principles in their own world. If organizations want to be proactive and forward thinking, then its members at all levels will need to think about the future in entrepreneurial and innovative ways, especially in their individual areas of responsibility. The question is, how can team leaders, project managers, sales representatives, engineers, and others start thinking strategically? What skills are needed? How can one apply them at a practical level? How can organizations get their employees to be more innovative, look around corners, plan ahead, and bravely take on the future?
This book is for anyone who is looking for answers to these questions, for those who want to be on track, in control, and prepared for the future. Through real life experiences, illustrated examples, and straightforward activities and tools, Ahead of the Curve will enlighten readers; cause them to think, plan, and act more strategically at the individual level and on the front lines of work.
Shaping the Future - One Day At a Time Ahead of the Curve: A Guide to Applied Strategic Thinking (Hardcover)
Are you an active force in shaping your future or simply being on the receiving side of the inevitable "jolt" of change? Stowell and Mead suggest a practical approach to becoming a strategic force in an organization's future. The strategic leader lays the groundwork for future opportunities. Examples of powerful questions set the context for establishing a cultural of reflective and analytical thinking. This starts by "stepping back" from daily activity and discovering what strategic thinking means to each individual and member of any leadership, management or natural work team: how are you adding value to your organization in the long term.
A practical model is presented to help us visualize our work environment from a strategic perspective. Of the four zones described (Operator, Planner, Inventor, Strategist) on a horizontal axis of time and a vertical axis of imagination, the Strategist operates in environment of strategic opportunity, thinking both broad and long term. The Strategist has an uncanny ability to anticipate, recognize and convert changes into opportunities. Strategy is about improving your position to make a difference in the organization. The secret is recognizing how to apply this way of thinking on a daily basis to the most mundane of activities in order to uncover new ideas, proving value and moving ahead of the curve.
What can we do to make this applied approach work? We must find a way to mentally step back and have a conversation about the future with a mentor, team member, supervisor or trusted advisor. Observe how the organization and its parts fit together, gain a perspective of perspicacity. Develop habits that will strengthen the strategic mind: Seek out knowledge and information; be curious; be self-motivated; be collaborative; be playful with ideas; go on a learning journey.
A C.L.E.A.R. target provides a basic rule: Nothing about strategic thinking is all that complex. A good target that is well defined has a certain profile. Controllable, Linked, Energizing, Actionable, Result-Oriented. The importance of this goal model to me is the focus on the energizing and action focus of the entire book. The initiative must be exciting, fun and rewarding, but must at all costs lead to reasonable implementation or you gain nothing. If not result-oriented, then you have wasted finite resources and are simply marking time. Finally, the future is not as far away as you think - so get ahead of the curve and avoid the jolt of running into the wall of change you did not anticipate. This book is worth having at your desk and reviewing in a reflective intentional manner.
Dennis Rogers, Director of Strategic Learning, Division of Strategic Development, Social and Rehabilitation Services, State of Kansas.
Innovative Thinking?? As much as this title is about strategy, in my opinion, it is also about being innovative and acting on innovation - what the author might call "strategic thoughts". If you are thinking about how to satisfy the future needs of customers, I think you would like this. It has a plenty of good information.
Strategic Gold I bought this book after reading one of the Amazon reviews. After reading the book, I was impressed in the value and concepts it offered towards the idea of strategy. From a Senior Management perspective, this works for both the organization as an entity and those "individuals using it daily" as was mentioned in another review. Strategic gold.
Finally Something I Can Use! I've read through a number of books on strategy and feel this is one I can put to good use and speaks to me. It discussed how to "apply" strategy rather than just telling you what it is. Most of the other books on strategy are academic and seem to be solely informative. This is something you could give to front line management and senior team who could all relate. If you want to learn how to think strategically, this is for you. If you want a more traditional text book style read on strategy, you might want something else. This could be a good companion if you choose that route.
Strategic Thinking Can Be Done! Before reading this book, I didn't think that the word strategy applied to me and my role as a mid-level manager. But since I've read Ahead of the Curve, I use strategy and apply the strategic priciples I learned in every aspect of my life. It has given me a new outlook on how I can contribute to my organization. Not only does the book guide you through identifying your strategic target, or goal, but then walks you through a strategic process to achieve your initiatives. As a side note, I found the book kept my attention the whole way through with interesting examples, helpful quotes, and eye catching images. The authors did a great job at keeping my attention and securing me as a reader of their other books! Win-Win Partnerships: Be on the Leading Edge with Synergistic Coachin
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