Strategic Thinking vs Strategic planning

"Strategy without tactics is a slow road to victory, tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat"

Watching Blackberry is like watching a huge shooting star slowly flame out. In 2007 the iPhone debuted and since then Blackberry (RIM) has lost 70% of its value. Perhaps they'll get some of their mojo back with the launch of their new operating system this week but it will be tough. It's interesting to see a company that so dominated its the industry burn up because of a lack of the business strategy. At an investor meeting several years back an analysts asked other Mr.Lazaridis then co-CEO of RIM whether his company was already moving to add a color screen, a feature body found on devices in Asia. "Do I need to read my email in color?" he shot back. His amazing response was finally indicative of what was actualy happening at RIM at the time.When your CEO can't miss articulate what they're doing and what's happening around them you're going to be victimized" by more strategic minded the rivals. Companies don't need more perfect managers they need leaders…strategic thinkers at every level of the organization.

A study done by the AMA found that the most important competency for a leader is the ability to develop a strategy. Sadly the same study showed that only 4% of leaders at any level in an organization thought was strategically (ie. could identify keys issues and had plans to deal with them).As crazy as that figure is it's not surprising when you consider another study that found that less than 10% of all managers have ever had any training in strategy or strategy development. The data gets worse:

● 85% of all leaders spend less than 1% of their time on business strategy

● 50% spend no time at all

● Of all the companies that 'stall' and are eventually sold or liquidated 70% of those companies fail due to a poor strategy

Insight is at the heart of strategic thinking. Market insight is the seed of all new growth and new opportunities. Without it your own business / your business unit will stall.

Strategic planning takes market insights and puts them into a plan of action. As you make your plans for 2013 stop confusing busyness with effectiveness! Busy is the enemy of the Insight and strategic thinking. To gain market insights one needs to disconnect – step back – take some time to reflect and think.

● Take time to reflect and think about your strategy

● Involve your team – set aside "specific times" to discuss your strategy

● Do it often – its OK to think about the future. That’s what leaders do

Strategic thinking isn't something you do once in a while – it's something you practice all the time. Take time;time to learn and time to think about your company's strategy.Start to "see what everyone else has seen before and" begin to "think what now one else has thought before" that's Strategic thinking