p.4-5 When people ask what my company does, I say we help organizations and individuals "clarify
and move towards their hoped-for future." That's another way of saying we support our clients in deciding what's
most important to them, of all the possibilities available, and then making the choices that will keep them moving in that
direction.
p.5 Whether we're meeting one-on-one with the executives we coach or working with the senior teams of our
client companies, we offer them skills and guidelines for defining and then crafting the career or the organization they envision.
I intend, in writing this book, to share those approaches with you - so that, even though we may never meet face-to-face,
you'll be better able to "choose well": to clarify and move toward your own hoped-for future. In fact, I'd like to propose
to you a definition for being strategic, based on that capability:
Being strategic means consistently making those core directional choices that will best move
you toward your hoped-for future.
p.5 I think that being strategic is primarily a learnable skill.
p.6 The beauty of being strategic as I've defined it, of thinking and acting in this way,
is that it's almost universally useful.
p.11 Once you know where you're starting from and where you want to go, the next step is to look very clearly
at the impediments that lie between you and the achievement of your goal... Now it's time to get clear about the obstacles
you're going to have to overcome... You'd better find out before you begin.
p.12 Selecting effective strategies to achieve your vision allows you to consistently make those choices
that will best help you achieve the future you've envisioned. It gives you a framework for making best use of resources, deciding
which actions to take, and staying focused on the things that are most important to you.
p.30 Start to look for this pattern - "what is," "what's the hope," "what's in the way," "what's
the path"... it will begin to make sense as a practical approach.
p.34 In my experience, people often propose solutions to problems before they're clear on what the
problem is.
p.35 Discovering the real problem - the core challenge in a given situation
- is the necessary preamble to this definition [of being strategic]. Until you have a clear sense of the problem
to be solved, it's impossible to envision what "solved" would look like - that is, the future you want to create. Without
being able to see that, how can you decide the core directional choices you'll need to make to get there?
p.36-37 Ask: what isn't working?: ... Ask: how can we [or I] ?: ... Ask: would this feel like success?:
p.49 the single biggest obstacle to seeing reality clearly might be our wide variety of implicit
beliefs about what is and isn't important, what is and isn't possible, what is and isn't true... in order to clearly
understand your starting point, you need to look at your current situation in a way that's objective and that's inclusive
and yet focused.
p.51-52 If you've ever built a house of cards, you know some cards are essential to the integrity of the
structure and some aren't. Take a card off the top - no problem. Remove a card near the bottom - good-bye, card house. If
you want to be a successful card house builder, it's important to know the difference.
Similarly, distinguishing those facts or events that most impact the current situation from
those that don't is an important part of getting clear about "what is." ... Sorting the information you receive for
its probable impact on the challenge you've defined allows you to see the big picture without being distracted by less relevant
details.
p.57 In order to be strategic, you need to practice stretching your "pulling back the camera" muscle
and your "Fair Witness" muscle.
p.60 People who achieve important goals... have a clear idea of what success would look like and
feel for them, and it serves as a kind of operational North Star. They make decisions based on whether a particular
choice will move them toward that desired future state... if you don't know where you're going, it's hard to know
how to get there.
p.61 One of the common mistakes people make in describing the future they hope for themselves
is to deny or gloss over their current reality... it's so critically important to get really clear about
the "what is" before moving on to "what's the hope." Unless you can be a "Fair Witness" about where you're starting
from and what you have to work with, it's all too easy to set your sights on an unreachable outcome.
p.64 When you feel as though you have a fairly robust picture of this future you want, select and
write down the key elements - those parts of the future that are key to your vision of success... write down the
handful of things you feel are the most critical indicators of the future you want to create.
p.97 The question "What's the best way to get from where I am to where I am going?" is, in my mind,
the essence of being strategic... Crafting strategy is the process of determining which core directional
efforts will best move you toward your hoped-for future.
p.123 Strategic Repositioning...
Refresh What is Now
Reconfirm the Hope
Reassess What's in the Way
Revise the Path
p.165 the core elements... define your challenge, get clear about the current reality, envision
the future you want to create for yourselves, look honestly at "what's in the way," and craft the strategic and tactical path
to get you there.
p.183 Envision the Hoped-for Future
Pick a time frame for success
Imagine yourself in that future
Describe what success looks and feels like
Select the key elements
p.198 Make the Process Visible: ... capture the first three elements of the process - "What
Is" (SWOT and/or history), "What's the Hope" (your vision elements), and "What's in the Way" (the most important obstacles)
