Strategic Thinking (Bruce, Langdon, 2000)

To paraphrase the Rolling Stones, you might not always get what you want from this short 'n' sweet little guidebook on strategic thinking and planning, but you just might get what you need. That would include concise and handy visual and verbal tips on gathering and analyzing key information, setting short- and long-term objectives, developing your team leadership skills, predicting future trends, and maintaining a flexible approach throughout. It also covers the essential tools of strategic management, from SWOT (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) analysis and feasibility studies to budgeting forecasts and contingency plans. Granted, if you're looking for specific or in-depth guidance--say, how to do strategic thinking in a particular field, like biotechnology, or a particular division, like human resources--you may find this book too cursory and general in its approach. But if you're looking for a thumbnail guide to the basic steps of strategic planning, both individually and in a group setting, this may do you just fine.
It's worth mentioning that the book is also part of reference publisher Dorling Kindersley's Essential Managers series--20 itty-bitty li'l books on business and career topics ranging from communication, leadership, and decision making to the management of time, budgets, change, meetings, people, projects, and teams. Combining the For Dummies book series's talent for breaking down a lot of information into bite-size bits and sidebars with Dorling Kindersley's signature design style of crisp, classy graphics on a gleaming white backdrop, they don't represent the cutting edge of business thinking and they don't necessarily reflect any unique individual perspective. Instead, it's as though someone collated the best general thinking on these 20 topics and rolled them out into 72 brightly designed and easy-to-read pages, studded along the way with boxed tips, color shots of a multiracial cast of "coworkers" animatedly hashing through the workplace issues of the day, and a self-test of one's skills in the topic at hand on the last few pages of each volume. Again, they're not for anyone looking for more in-depth or focused help on any of the subjects they cover, but they're perfect as a quickie general-interest reference... and let's face it, they're so cute and look so smart in a neat little stack or row that you'll probably want to buy a whole bunch to give to your entire staff or department. --Timothy Murphy

Book Description
Learn about brainstorming, systems, logic, precedents, action plans, and goals.

Learn how to plan, develop, and implement dynamic business and team strategies with Strategic Thinking. This concise and informative guide shows you how to identify the route to success by gathering and analyzing key information, setting short- and long-term objectives, developing your team-leadership skills, predicting future trends, and maintaining a flexible approach. It covers the essential tools of strategic management, from SWOT analysis and feasibility studies to budgeting forecasts and contingency plans, to help give you a competitive edge in today's fast-moving business world. The Essential Manager have sold more than 1.9 million copies worldwide! Experienced and novice managers alike can benefit from these compact guides that slip easily into a briefcase or a portfolio. The topics are relevant to every work environment, from large corporations to small businesses. Concise treatments of dozens of business techniques, skills, methods, and problems are presented with hundreds of photos, charts, and diagrams. It is the most exciting and accessible approach to business and self-improvement available.

p.6 A strategy is a declaration of intent, defining where you want to be in the long-term.

p.7 Strategy concerns itself with what is ahead, looking at where you are going, and how to get there... The success of a strategy must be measurable by... results

p.8 There are three distinct phases to developing a new strategy: analysis, planning, and implementation... During the analysis phase, you will collect as much background information as you can to help you make informed decisions. This stage is crucial because the facts you have at hand will influence the direction you will take... Your aim is to draw up a clear statement of the strengths and weaknesses of your position as well as a list of opportunities for the future.

p.9 Having gathered all the necessary facts, the next phase is to make strategic decisions that will bring you closer to your overall aim... During the final phase of developing a strategy you will determine, on the basis of your analysis, what you are going to do and how you are going to do it.

p.10 The ability to differentiate between short- and long-term thinking and strike a balance between the two is an integral part of strategy... Short-term planning deals with the here and now, or a few weeks hence, while long-term thinking takes you far into the future. If you focus entirely on short-term success, you risk long-term failure.

p.11 Strategy is a continuous process; even when your plan becomes operational, you cannot neglect future planning.

p.12 An effective strategic plan has accurate information, strong ideas, and committed people at its core.

p.14 The importance of basing your strategy on the right information cannot be stressed enough. Poor data may lead to a crisis when the correct facts come to light, meaning the whole plan may need to be changed. The same goes for using out-of-date facts or for failing to collect all the information.

p.15 Coming up with ideas is paramount in strategic planning

p.16 Continuous strategic thinking in a changing world is vital if you and your business are to maintain a winning position.

p.18 A strong strategy is derived from an analysis of your business. Assess environmental influences, customers, competition, and internal capabilities before forming your strategic plan.

p.19 Read widely to keep up to date with new trends and ideas.

p.19 In analyzing your position, you will create a huge pool of data, some of it irrelevant to your strategic plan. Make the information more manageable and appropriate by subjecting it to the "So what?" question. If the answer is "So nothing," then that information has no impact on the strategy. Disregard it and move on.

p.26 Bring the mass of information you have collected during the analysis phase into a manageable summary using a SWOT matrix. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats."

p.32 Your distinctive capabilities, or whatever your team or organization does that sets it apart, form the backbone of your strategy.

p.34 Setting boundaries is essential to prevent people from wasting time and energy chasing opportunities that are not exactly what the customer needs or what the team wants to deliver. Trying to be all things to all people leads to a lack of team focus, thinly spread resources and, ultimately, failure. Clarifying boundaries early on will help to restrict the choices to be considered later in the planning process. It will also improve operational effectiveness by concentrating on those points that the team believes to be important.

p.36 Your strategic emphasis dictates where you should allocate time and resources... The more you focus, the faster your effectiveness improves.

p.48 The first step in implementing a strategy is to identify areas for improvement. Compare the current situation with the ideal to see where there are gaps, then group changes that are critical to your strategy into areas for immediate action.

p.51 It is important to produce objectives that are as tight and specific as possible. Follow the SMART rule, a useful management acronym that defines objectives as:

Stretching - they should challenge the manager and the team;
Measurable - they must be quantifiable;
Achievable - they must be realistic;
Related to the customer - they should improve service to them;
Time-targeted - they must have an end date.

By setting such objectives you ensure that everyone has a clear definition of what you hope to gain and a better understanding of the value of the change.

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