Synopses & Reviews
The ability to think strategically is the most sought-after trait in leaders, and one of the most surefire ways for leaders to get ahead. So why do so few leaders understand what strategic thinking really means? There are plenty of books out there on corporate strategy, but, until now, few have explained how individual executives can practice strategic thinking on a daily basis to guide their business. Leaders need a concrete framework they can use to keep their careers vital through innovation and inspiration—not a theoretical introduction to strategy. In
Elevate: The Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking, Rich Horwath fills in the gaps with his highly respected, highly practical framework.
Understanding the basic principles of strategy is just the prerequisite for becoming a truly strategic leader. In this book, Horwath focuses on advanced strategic thinking that will drive results in the short- and long-term. His three-discipline approach breaks strategy down into its fundamentals: Coalesce, Compete, and Champion. Effective strategic leadership starts with a bird’s-eye perspective, but it doesn’t end there. Incorporating new insights and influencing commitment are part and parcel of advanced strategy. Through research, exercises, thought models, and lucid explanations of key concepts, Elevate guides leaders in the process of building these essential skills.
The majority of organizations say that strategic thinking is the most underdeveloped skill among their senior leaders. Too often, managers are so busy with day-to-day business operations and fire drills that they forget to take a step back—to elevate their thinking. This book demonstrates beyond a doubt that more advanced strategic thinking among managers would lead to greater strategic innovation and fewer fire drills, freeing leadership to take the initiative necessary to drive the organization to the next level.
Staying ahead of the competition is crucial for businesses, but competition is stiff at the individual level, too. Firms are realizing that strategic failures can lead to long-term losses and even financial catastrophe. That means leaders who are unable to think strategically could find themselves being phased out. Elevate: The Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking helps leaders get ahead in their own careers by stepping back to focus on the big picture.
Synopsis
Learn how elite strategists outcompete the restEveryone working in business wants to be known as strategic and be able to execute good strategy. Author Rich Horwath shows you the behavior and the mindset that allows you to consistently develop winning strategies. Compete: Develop the Mindset, Behavior, and Action of an Elite Strategist fills the existing gap in strategic thinking material for senior leaders who need more than just the basics to help their organization's not just survive, but thrive, in the future. It shows you how to generate strategic insights that bring new value to customers, make strategic trade-offs to effectively allocate limited resources, and create a strategic action plan to drive sustained success.
- Helps senior leaders understand and adopt the mindset, behaviors, and actions of an elite strategist
- Details the Three Disciplines of Strategic Thinking framework, identified as Acumen, Allocation, and Action
The ability to set and execute a good strategy can be the reason why a business beats the competition. Now, senior leaders have the guidance they need to master the elite level of strategic thinking concepts and tools to drive their business success.
Synopsis
According to a study published in
Chief Executive Magazine, the most valued skill in leaders today is strategic thinking. However, more than half of all companies say that strategic thinking is the skill their senior leaders most need to improve.
Elevate provides leaders with a framework and toolkit for developing
advanced strategic thinking capabilities. Unlike the majority of books that focus on strategy from a corporate perspective,
Elevate gives the individual executive practical tools and techniques to help them become a truly strategic leader. The new framework that will enable leaders to finally integrate both strategy and innovation into a strategic approach that drives their profitable growth is the Three Disciplines of
Advanced Strategic Thinking:
1. Coalesce: Fusing together insights to create an innovative business model.
2. Compete: Creating a system of strategy to achieve competitive advantage.
3. Champion: Leading others to think and act strategically to execute strategy.
Every leader desperately wants to be strategic--their career depends on it. Elevate provides the roadmap to reach the strategic leadership summit.
Synopsis
Strategy + Innovation = competitive advantage“Rich Horwath has done it again! With Deep Dive, Rich simplified the complexity of strategic thinking and enabled our managers with practical tools. Now with Elevate, our leaders are armed with the framework to develop insightful strategies that will be the differentiator that gives us a competitive advantage. If you only read one book on strategy, this has to be that book!”
—Dale Hicks, Global Sourcing and Procurement Manager, Intel
“Strategic thinking is the most important skill in the continued pursuit of innovative products and services that lead to competitive advantage. Leaders wrestling with how to configure their core competencies and capabilities to achieve organic growth will find Elevate a valuable resource. Rich Horwath shares with managers dozens of tools to help their teams develop the skills to create competitive differentiation that customers value.”
—Jay Tibbets, President, ATK Sporting Group
“Elevate provides leaders with a framework for combining strategy and innovation to achieve competitive advantage. Rich uses real-world examples and practical tools to help executives elevate their managers’ thinking. A must-read for leaders searching for ways to create new value for customers and continually outperform their competition.”
—Dean Gregory, President, Medical Devices, Fresenius Kabi North America
“Elevate helps executives to enhance their most important skill: to think and execute strategically. Strategy and innovation are both crucial to a company’s success. Rich’s book provides leaders with the guidance to bring these two concepts together in order to drive their business successfully.”
—Michael Mehler, CEO, RIEMSER Pharma, Germany
About the Author
RICH HORWATH is the CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute and a
New York Times, Wall Street Journal and
USA Today bestselling author on strategy. He is a former Chief Strategy Officer and professor of strategy and has appeared on ABC, NBC and FOX TV. Horwath has helped more than 50,000 managers around the world develop their strategic thinking skills and is consistently ranked the #1 speaker on strategy & innovation at national conferences.
For More information, visit strategyskills.com.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1Elevate 1
Importance of Strategy 3
Top 10 Strategy Challenges 5
GOST Framework 12
Strategy Defined 14
Thinking Strategically 16
1,000-Foot View 21
Discipline #1: Coalesce 23
Patterns in Strategy 26
Systems 32
Platforms 34
Business Model 39
Phase I of the Business Model: Value Creation 40
Phase II of the Business Model: Value Delivery 44
Phase III of the Business Model: Value Capture 48
Profitable Growth 52
Strategy and Innovation 58
Types of Innovation 59
1,000-Foot View 67
Discipline #2: Compete 69
Competitive Condition 73
Leader 73
Challenger 76
Spectator 82
Competitive Advantage 84
Competitive Intelligence 88
Trade-off Zone 91
Indirect Competition 94
Intangible Competition 97
1,000-Foot View 102
Discipline #3: Champion 103
Using Time Strategically 106
Time Trade-Off Techniques 109
Influencing Strategy Commitment 112
Increasing Buy-In with Social Proof 115
Strategic Behavior 119
Practicing Strategic Thinking 122
Developing Strategy Habits 129
Strategy Conversations 134
The Power of Story 138
Creating a Strategy Story 141
1,000-Foot View 145
Conclusion 147
When to Change Strategy 147
Fire Prevention 149
Tactical Evaluation Matrix 151
Strategy Launch Review 153
Strategy Scaffold 155
Strategic I Am 157
1,000-Foot View 160
Notes 163
Index 173
Acknowledgments 181
About the Author 183