The Core of Strategic Thinking
"At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense." - Carl Sagan
One of the keys to true and solid strategic thinking is to let your mind dance in the unknown, the impossible, the improbable, the extreme, the nuts, and the crazy. By allowing yourself the freedom to explore beyond your frame of thinking, tapping into your counter intuition, you begin to expand the possibilities and probabilities of the future.
As a leader you need to ensure you are constantly testing your limits in this way. To do this requires you to daily attend the university of life.
Below are practices to support your development:
- Surrounding yourself with people you are not comfortable
- Eat foods outside your norm
- Go to the streets/keep your street skills sharp
- Read all the time from a broad spectrum of information
“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time – none, zero.” – Charlie Munger
- Accept help, ideas, and advice from others
- Learn how to live in the discomfort of ambiguity
- Remain a student in all things
- Learn to quiet your mental dialogue
- Once you have developed your strategic mind, learn to trust it
"The shrewd guess, the fertile hypothesis, the courageous leap to a tentative conclusion- these are the most valuable coin of the thinker at work. But in most schools guessing is heavily penalized and is somehow associated with laziness." - Jerome Seymour Bruner
Think Bold and Broad,
Bobbie Goheen
