Strategic thinkers advance their careers by being better leaders. Not all great thinkers are great leaders, but the ones who are leadership material are likely better leaders than those who fail to think strategically.Strategic leaders go beyond the role of having and communicating a vision to fully understanding, planning and executing the necessary strategies to realize it. They make better decisions as they have a more holistic view that includes the organization and the people inside and outside it.

Being better leaders

Strategic thinkers understand and dig deeper when analyzing processes, developing and applying performance metrics, collecting data and producing analytics for better decision-making. They challenge the involved to consider answers for important questions.

Being More Reflective

Strategic thinkers demonstrate organizational value by creating more strategic thinkers. Developing a culture that considers strategy and doesn’t lose sight of the value that needs to be delivered greatly increases the capabilities of a company. Strategic thinkers are the ones in the organization who ponder and prompt questions that are designed to create even more strategic thinkers.

Creating a Domino effect

<ul><li>Why is this important?</li><li>What are the long-term and short-term goals?</li><li>Who are the stakeholders and why are they so?</li><li>What biases influence the situation?</li><li>What are the fundaments behind our premises?</li><li>What are the consequences?</li><li>What is the plan and why is it so?</li><li>What are the resources available?</li><li>Which strategic analysis model do we apply?</li><li>What are the accountabilities? Does the culture encourage 360-degree accountability? How?</li><li>When it comes to performance management, what are our common standards for behavior?</li><li>What is the most powerful thing to do tomorrow to build/execute/advance the organizational and/or operational strategy? Why? </li></ul>

Questions a strategic thinker might make

It sounds simple enough: Hire and promote the best among us. Do what you must to entice high performers who are competent in areas of leadership, strategy, strategic thinking, etc.