Elevate

According to a study published in Chief Executive Magazine, the most valued skill in leaders today is strategic thinking. However, more than half of all companies say that strategic thinking is the skill their senior leaders most need to improve. Elevate provides leaders with a framework and toolkit for developing advanced strategic thinking capabilities. Unlike the majority of books that focus on strategy from a corporate perspective, Elevate gives the individual executive practical tools and techniques to help them become a truly strategic leader. The new framework that will enable leaders to finally integrate both strategy and innovation into a strategic approach that drives their profitable growth is the Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking:

1. Coalesce: Fusing together insights to create an innovative business model.

2. Compete: Creating a system of strategy to achieve competitive advantage.

3. Champion: Leading others to think and act strategically to execute strategy.

Every leader desperately wants to be strategic--their career depends on it. Elevate provides the roadmap to reach the strategic leadership summit.

Introduction 1

Elevate 1

Importance of Strategy 3

Top 10 Strategy Challenges 5

GOST Framework 12

Strategy Defined 14

Thinking Strategically 16

1,000-Foot View 21

Discipline #1: Coalesce 23

Patterns in Strategy 26

Systems 32

Platforms 34

Business Model 39

Phase I of the Business Model: Value Creation 40

Phase II of the Business Model: Value Delivery 44

Phase III of the Business Model: Value Capture 48

Profitable Growth 52

Strategy and Innovation 58

Types of Innovation 59

1,000-Foot View 67

Discipline #2: Compete 69

Competitive Condition 73

Leader 73

Challenger 76

Spectator 82

Competitive Advantage 84

Competitive Intelligence 88

Trade-off Zone 91

Indirect Competition 94

Intangible Competition 97

1,000-Foot View 102

Discipline #3: Champion 103

Using Time Strategically 106

Time Trade-Off Techniques 109

Influencing Strategy Commitment 112

Increasing Buy-In with Social Proof 115

Strategic Behavior 119

Practicing Strategic Thinking 122

Developing Strategy Habits 129

Strategy Conversations 134

The Power of Story 138

Creating a Strategy Story 141

1,000-Foot View 145

Conclusion 147

When to Change Strategy 147

Fire Prevention 149

Tactical Evaluation Matrix 151

Strategy Launch Review 153

Strategy Scaffold 155

Strategic I Am 157

1,000-Foot View 160

Notes 163

Index 173

Acknowledgments 181

About the Author 183

RICH HORWATH is the CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute and a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author on strategy. He is a former Chief Strategy Officer and professor of strategy and has appeared on ABC, NBC and FOX TV. Horwath has helped more than 50,000 managers around the world develop their strategic thinking skills and is consistently ranked the #1 speaker on strategy & innovation at national conferences.

The ability to think strategically is the most sought-after trait in leaders, and one of the most surefire ways for leaders to get ahead. So why do so few leaders understand what strategic thinking really means? There are plenty of books out there on corporate strategy, but, until now, few have explained how individual executives can practice strategic thinking on a daily basis to guide their business. Leaders need a concrete framework they can use to keep their careers vital through innovation and inspiration—not a theoretical introduction to strategy. In Elevate: The Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking, Rich Horwath fills in the gaps with his highly respected, highly practical framework.

Understanding the basic principles of strategy is just the prerequisite for becoming a truly strategic leader. In this book, Horwath focuses on advanced strategic thinking that will drive results in the short- and long-term. His three-discipline approach breaks strategy down into its fundamentals: Coalesce, Compete, and Champion. Effective strategic leadership starts with a bird’s-eye perspective, but it doesn’t end there. Incorporating new insights and influencing commitment are part and parcel of advanced strategy. Through research, exercises, thought models, and lucid explanations of key concepts, Elevate guides leaders in the process of building these essential skills.

The majority of organizations say that strategic thinking is the most underdeveloped skill among their senior leaders. Too often, managers are so busy with day-to-day business operations and fire drills that they forget to take a step back—to elevate their thinking. This book demonstrates beyond a doubt that more advanced strategic thinking among managers would lead to greater strategic innovation and fewer fire drills, freeing leadership to take the initiative necessary to drive the organization to the next level.

Staying ahead of the competition is crucial for businesses, but competition is stiff at the individual level, too. Firms are realizing that strategic failures can lead to long-term losses and even financial catastrophe. That means leaders who are unable to think strategically could find themselves being phased out. Elevate: The Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking helps leaders get ahead in their own careers by stepping back to focus on the big picture.

For more information, visit strategyskills.com.