Making Time for Strategic Thinking

If you want to make a difference as a leader, you've got to make time for strategy.

Michael Porter, Harvard's guru of strategic thinking, is covered in this FastCompany article.

Among the gems in this article:

• Business keeps moving faster -- but you better make time for strategy
• Of course strategy is hard -- it's about making tough choices
• Technology changes, strategy doesn't
• Strategy hasn't changed, but change has
• Beware the myth of inflection points
• Great strategists get a few (big) things right
• Great strategies are a cause

BOTTOMLINE: "The chief strategist of an organization has to be the leader -- the CEO. A lot of business thinking has stressed the notion of empowerment, of pushing down and getting a lot of people involved. That's very important, but empowerment and involvement don't apply to the ultimate act of choice. To be successful, an organization must have a very strong leader who's willing to make choices and define the trade-offs. I've found that there's a striking relationship between really good strategies and really strong leaders."

(Tip of the hat to the good folks at MBA Depot)