How to Think Strategically

Introduction

You are a born strategist. From an early age you have learned ways of doing things so that the benefit outweighs the effort. As a child you may have figured out how to get extra pocket money from your grandparents or how to come out on top in playground games. Later in life you may have pursued interests or nurtured relationships where the rewards you experienced were much greater than the time and effort you devoted to them. Trial and error will have led you to keep doing some things and to abandon others, favouring the behaviours which keep bringing rewards – a mark of a good strategy.

In our personal lives, when the reward exceeds the cost, we measure it in terms of happiness. In organisational life we might measure it in terms ...