On Monday, I wrote about strategic thinking in my post Developing your strategic thinking.  But what does it look like in practice?

Now this, in my view, is often quite challenging to identify.  Why?  Well, there are several reasons.  Firstly, we’re told that strategic thinking is rather difficult to do (and yes, perhaps it is) and yet, in practice, a great strategic thinker makes the complex quite simple so that his insights are hard to spot.  Secondly, the great strategic thinker often sees things ahead of others.  When he or she first has an idea it may be seen as sheer lunacy by others who haven’t seen it yet.  In hindsight, it may seem rather obvious.

Some of the issues and ideas in the Western world that reflect the strategic thinking of our forbears are in the social rather than the business realm.  Who in the Western world would question the idea that slavery should be illegal?  How many people would really believe in 2011 that women should be denied the right to vote?  How long will it be until same sex marriage, or women priests or inter-racial adoption are just non-issues?  For this reason, insights into strategic thinking can be found in many historical speeches (as well as insights into how to share a vision in ways that are compelling).  Writing this article I made a note, for example, to get my hands on A Call to Conscience:  The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King.

The business world is equally littered with stories of famous business people whose predictions, with hindsight, look utterly ridiculous.  One of the most famous of these was by Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM who, in 1943 said “I think there is a market in the world for maybe five computers”.  More recently, Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., is said to have said in 1977 “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home”.  It took Bill Gates to turn this round and to hold the vision of a computer in every home.  (And as I write, I wonder how many people might say “What, only one?”).

One example of strategic thinking in practice was supplied by my colleague in the coaching profession, Emma Chilvers.  Emma offered a link to an extract on YouTube from the film Other People’s Money – follow this link to see just one example of strategic thinking in practice.  From the business world, I was struck by Ray Anderson’s response to questions from his customers about what his company, Interface Carpets, was doing to support the environment.  Anderson went from not having an environmental vision for his company to having a vision for his company which recognised unequivocally the need to manufacture products in ways that are totally sustainable.  Anderson speaks of his personal epiphany in the DVD The Corporation, itself a visionary film.  You can also see what Anderson says on YouTube by following this link.

And how do you develop your ability to think strategically?  Keep reading!  I’ll be offering some thoughts on how to develop your skills in this area over the coming days.