Strategic Thinking: The Game-Changing Habit You Need
Seeing the glass as full and a half is a strategy – and innovation is strategy in action
When you think of strategy, do you picture a five-year plan gathering dust in a drawer? If so, it’s time for a paradigm shift.
Having a strategic perspective isn’t about long, static plans—it’s about agility, versatility, foresight, and staying ahead in a fast-moving world.
Strategic thinking isn’t just planning; it’s the ability to:
See the big picture while keeping an eye on the granular details.
Navigate shifting landscapes with a clear, adaptable vision.
Balance short-term wins with long-term goals.
Think of it as playing chess while others are playing checkers. It’s about anticipating the next moves, knowing your competitors’ strengths, and positioning yourself for success—even in uncertain conditions.
It’s about being a thinker who always strives to become a better thinker – and enjoys the rewards.
It's the game-changing habit you need to win
I’m a Leadership Performance Strategist
Leadership Performance Strategies are systematic approaches designed to enhance an executive’s ability to lead effectively by fostering habits and practices that align with core leadership principles.
These strategies focus on cultivating vision, emotional intelligence, decision-making adaptability, self-awareness, and resilience to create sustainable personal and organizational success.
I help international leaders and their teams design a personal Blueprint to attain Peak Performance and deliver outstanding results. I apply what I’ve learned helping professional athletes win championships to helping business leaders go "beyond personal best."
I’m in this world to transform what can be into what shall be. Ultimately, what I solve is the connection between desire and achievement.
My primary objective is to ensure that leaders find fulfillment through meaningful achievements and build an inspiring personal legacy.
My strategic perspective is that the glass is neither half-full nor half-empty - it’s full and a half.
The glass is full and a half because the development of the Human Mind is open-ended. We are constantly learning, adapting and evolving.
Designing Your Leadership Performance Strategy
As your thinking partner, I’m a catalyst of Breakthrough results. I focus on analyzing perspectives, exploring new visions, designing innovative approaches to create growth and powerful contributions.
As an example of the scope of my role, I have selected five fundamental questions for you to craft a personal leadership performance strategy, informed by academic research on effective leadership.
These questions encourage you to reflect deeply on your leadership approach while grounding your strategy in evidence-based principles.
Vision and Purpose: What is the long-term vision I want to achieve for my organization and my life, and how does it align with my core values and purpose? (Research emphasizes that effective leaders are purpose-driven, able to articulate a clear vision that motivates themselves and others.)
Emotional Intelligence: How do I manage my emotions, empathize with others, and foster positive relationships across diverse teams? (Studies highlight emotional intelligence as a key predictor of leadership effectiveness, enabling leaders to inspire trust and collaboration.)
Decision-Making and Adaptability: How do I make critical decisions under uncertainty, and what strategies do I employ to remain agile in a rapidly changing environment? (Effective leaders excel in complex decision-making and demonstrate adaptability, traits supported by research in transformational and situational leadership.)
Self-Awareness and Feedback: What are my strengths and weaknesses as a leader, and how do I seek and use feedback to improve? (Self-awareness is foundational for personal and professional growth, as supported by research in authentic leadership.)
Work-Life Integration and Resilience: How do I maintain personal resilience and balance the demands of leadership with my health, relationships, and personal goals? (Research underscores the importance of resilience and well-being for sustained leadership performance and avoiding burnout.)
To experience true achievement and wholeness as leaders, we must passionately engage in the design of our future so we can own it. In doing so, our personal energy powerfully ripples outwards to influence others and create waves of positive change.
Seeing the Glass as Full and a Half: Your Leadership Advantage
These are the five essential ways in which seeing the glass as full and a half can enhance your strategic thinking skills:
Expands Vision: By seeing the glass as full and a half, you shift from a limited perspective to an expansive mindset, encouraging innovation and fostering new visions that drive long-term success.
Unlocks Continuous Growth: This perspective aligns with the belief that human potential is open-ended, helping you embrace constant learning and adaptation to overcome challenges and discover untapped opportunities.
Enhances Strategic Thinking: Viewing the glass as full and a half empowers you to think beyond current constraints, designing transformative approaches that bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to go.
Fosters Breakthrough Results: When you adopt this mindset, you are better equipped to connect your aspirations with tangible achievements, unlocking breakthrough results that lead to sustainable growth and impactful contributions.
Cultivates Legacy and Fulfillment: This approach encourages you to focus on meaningful achievements and lasting legacies, ensuring that your leadership journey is aligned with purpose, personal growth, and the creation of a powerful impact.
Enhancing Your Strategic Thinking Habits
These are some of the specific tasks that I can help you align as part of the design of your Leadership Performance Strategy.
Through a structured process, I guide you in the development of strategic thinking habits that match “the glass is full and a half” perspective:
1. Vision and Purpose – Strategic Habits:
Vision Alignment Sessions: Regularly review and refine your vision to ensure it evolves with your goals and circumstances.
Future-Back Planning: Visualize your long-term aspirations and work backward to identify key milestones and strategies.
Purpose and Direction Calibration: Reflect on your actions and decisions weekly to ensure they align with your core values and purpose.
2. Emotional Intelligence – Strategic Habits:
Emotional Control Practice: Commit to daily mindfulness exercises (e.g., meditation, visualization) to manage emotions and maintain focus.
Empathy Development: Regularly practice perspective-taking to understand and connect with team members’ feelings and motivations.
Feedback Checkpoints: Schedule consistent one-on-one meetings for feedback and constructive discussions to foster trust and collaboration.
3. Decision-Making and Adaptability – Strategic Habits:
Scenario Planning: Dedicate time to explore "what-if" scenarios and plan contingencies for potential challenges.
Data-Driven Decision Reviews: Use both quantitative and qualitative data to guide decisions, minimizing bias and enhancing objectivity.
Agility Training: Develop adaptability by taking on projects outside your comfort zone and regularly reviewing decisions’ outcomes.
4. Self-Awareness and Feedback – Strategic Habits:
Personal SWOT Analysis: Quarterly assess your leadership strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to track personal growth.
360-Degree Feedback: Collect and integrate feedback from a range of stakeholders (peers, subordinates, mentors) annually to ensure a holistic view.
Reflective Leadership Charting: Regularly write about challenges and successes to uncover patterns and improve decision-making.
5. Work-Life Integration and Resilience – Strategic Habits:
Energy Audit and Monitoring: Weekly assess your time and energy allocation to ensure you’re prioritizing rejuvenating and sustaining activities.
Making Stress and Recovery Waves: Incorporate recovery breaks into your routine for mental and physical renewal to maintain long-term productivity.
Protecting Recovery: Define clear boundaries between work and personal life to protect personal well-being and prevent burnout.
The Payoff of Being a Masterful Strategic Thinker
Developing strategic thinking habits is essential for any business leader looking to build a resilient and future-proof organization. Considering yourself "in training for life" can facilitate the implementation and refinement of your habits through routines like these:
Start by stepping back regularly to view your business from a 30,000-foot perspective, identifying emerging trends, threats, and opportunities.
Ask strategic questions before making decisions, using a broader lens to evaluate long-term implications.
Study competitors not only to learn from their successes but also to spot gaps they may have missed.
Immerse yourself in megatrends like sustainability and AI to stay ahead of industry shifts, and seek guidance from mentors or coaches who can offer fresh insights.
Experiment with new ideas, embrace failure as a learning tool, and always measure and reflect on the impact of your strategic decisions.
Disciplined Strategic Thinking and Successful Business Transformations
Here are renowned examples of how business leaders and their teams have tackled five fundamental strategic challenges and succeeded, thanks to their sharpened strategic thinking skills. You can focus on each one of them and elaborate your strategic solutions:
1) UNIQUENESS – Identify the factors that will continue to differentiate us and sustain our uniqueness within 3 years.
Apple didn’t just focus on making better iPhones; they ventured into wearables (Apple Watch), banking (Apple Pay), and streaming (Apple TV+), all reinforcing their ecosystem.
In the early 2000s, LEGO faced bankruptcy. By identifying their core strength—creativity—and expanding into movies, video games, and theme parks, they rebuilt a global empire.
2) COMPETITIVENESS – Understand the actions of competitors that have the potential to reduce our market share and impact our position.
Netflix expanded into gaming to fend off streaming competitors like Disney+ and Amazon Prime. By diversifying early, they’re maintaining relevance.
When Tata Motors acquired Jaguar Land Rover, they turned a struggling brand into a thriving luxury carmaker by integrating innovation and leveraging global markets.
3) ANTICIPATION – Recognize the emerging disruptors or trends that could potentially challenge or overturn our current business model.
Kodak missed the digital photography wave, while Amazon anticipated the rise of cloud computing and launched AWS, now a billion-dollar revenue stream.
Mailchimp transitioned from being an email marketing tool to an all-in-one marketing platform for small businesses, incorporating website building, social media tools, and customer analytics. Mailchimp positioned itself as an essential tool for small businesses, significantly increasing its user base and achieving market dominance before being acquired by Intuit in 2021 for $12 billion.
4) MEGATRENDS – Explore the global megatrends that will influence and transform the future of our industry.
The automotive industry’s pivot to electric vehicles (EVs) shows how companies like Tesla and BYD harnessed sustainability megatrends, leaving traditional players scrambling to catch up.
Through its “Sustainable Living Plan,” Unilever aligned its products with sustainability trends, leading to increased market share and consumer loyalty, especially among younger audiences.
Patagonia doubled down on its commitment to sustainability and ethical practices. By producing high-quality, environmentally friendly products, launching repair services, and encouraging customers to buy less, the company aligned itself with the growing demand for sustainable business practices - while achieving consistent growth as a champion of environmental activism.
5) INNOVATION – Seek out individuals or resources that can help refine and expand the vision for our future growth and innovation.
Executives like Satya Nadella of Microsoft sought out innovation coaches and read voraciously to pivot Microsoft toward cloud services and AI, transforming the company into a trillion-dollar giant.
Warby Parker adopted a direct-to-consumer model, offering stylish glasses at a fraction of the cost by cutting out middlemen. They also launched the "Buy a Pair, Give a Pair" program, resonating with socially conscious customers. The company became a major disruptor in the eyewear industry, growing rapidly and inspiring similar models in other sectors.
Start Your Leadership Performance Strategy Development
As Steve Jobs famously said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Your strategic thinking is your guiding compass—use it wisely, and you’ll be ready not only for the challenges ahead but for those still on the horizon.
I can assist you in your pathway with a structured approach that involves:
Coaching and Mentorship: Engage me as a mentor or coach for continuous feedback and accountability in implementing your strategic habits.
Guided Reflection: Setting regular sessions to assess progress across all leadership areas during our sessions and adjust strategies accordingly.
Continuous Learning: Regularly investing time in leadership development through reading, workshops, and courses to refine your strategic thinking.
Seeing the glass as full and a half is a strategy – and innovation is strategy in action.
The payoff of this approach is significant: shifting from reactive management to proactive, visionary leadership. By developing strategic thinking, you create a resilient business that can thrive in any environment.
I invite you to take the next step: contact me to plan your Leadership Performance Strategy development process, and position both your lifestyle and your company for enduring, success.
[First published in my LinkedIn Newsletter “The Glass is Full and a Half” on December 3, 2024]
More Suggestions: