Be More Strategic in Business: How to Win Through Stronger Leadership and Smarter Decisions (Strategic Leadership, Women in Business, Strategic Vision)

by Diana Thomas, Stacey Boyle

Overview

Take Your Leadership to the Next Level With This Award-Winning Business Book

“If you've ever been told to "be more strategic" and wondered how to do it, this is the book for you.” —Marshall Goldsmith, New York Times #1 bestselling author, Triggers and What Got You Here Won't Get You There

• Winner, 2018 Foreword Indies, Adult Nonfiction/Career
• Award Finalist, 2018 Best Book Awards, Business/Careers
• Winner, 2019 International Book Awards, Business/Careers
• Winner, 2019 Discovery Award, Best First Book/Nonfiction
• Honorable Mention, 2019 Eric Hoffer Book Award, Business

Discover a proven approach to strategic leadership from Diana Thomas and Stacey Boyle, two distinguished business-women with decades of business coaching experience and insights.

Strategic leadership is essential to business success. Strong leaders are those who successfully navigate a great shift: from tactical doer to strategic leader. Regardless of your industry, line of business, or sector, your organization desperately needs strategic leaders. A strategic leader is tuned in to the needs of the business, understands how actions impact corporate objectives, and uses data to make smart decisions. Whether you’re leading a department team or running your own company, a strategic leader clearly propels business performance.

In Be More Strategic in Business you’ll learn how to:

• Develop your strategic skills
• Set meaningful direction
• Build a strategic plan
• Make decisions to win

If you have read books such as HBR Guide to Thinking Strategically, Leadership Strategy and Tactics, Opportunity Leadership, Outthink the Competition, or Winning the Long Game, you will want to read Be More Strategic in Business.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633537842
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	08/15/2018
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	180,193
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Diana Thomas is an executive coach who partners with business executives, teams, and learning leaders to help them become more strategic and find more happiness in their lives. She brings deep expertise from her career as U.S. Vice President for Learning and Development at McDonald’s Corporation, where she led all aspects of training and development at Hamburger University, McDonald's global training center of excellence. Her work there was recognized with numerous learning industry awards. Today she uses her decades of experience, education, and expertise to help her clients increase their organizational impact and grow a committed and engaged followership. She is an editorial advisory board member for Chief Learning Officer magazine, a faculty member for MediaTec’s CLO Accelerator, and board member for the National Diversity Council.

Dr. Stacey Boyle has led global consulting and research departments for over 20 years, during which time she has built a reputation for groundbreaking work connecting investments in people to critical business outcomes. Today she runs Smarter People Planning, a consultancy that helps some of the world’s top companies and non-profits answer their pressing business questions and make strategic decisions. Stacey is a sought-after thought leader in workforce analytics, evaluation, and management consulting. Her experience spans across a wide variety of industries, including the learning industry's most popular service providers and awards programs. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Behavioral Research and Evaluation from Oklahoma State University.

Table of Contents

Praise for Be More Strategic in Business 4

Dedication 11

Foreword 16

Introduction 20

Chapter 1 Finding Your Ground Amidst Disruption 30

What Happens When Strategic Leadership is Missing? 34

Why You? 36

What's All the Fuss about Change? 38

How Do We Win? 41

What's a Strategic Win? 42

Get Ready to Become a Winning Strategic Leader 47

Strategic Leadership Behaviors 49

Quick and Dirty Takeaways from This Chapter 56

Chapter 2 Six Factors for Strategic Leadership 58

When Was the Last Time You Tried to Climb a Tree? 60

The Rungs of the Ladder 60

Who Can Use the Factors? 62

A Quick and Dirty Framework for Strategic Leadership 65

Chapter 3 Factor 1-Develop Your Foundational Skills 66

1 Expand Your Knowledge of the Inside and Outside of Your Organization 67

2 Change Your Thinking 72

3 Look and Act Strategic 77

Where Do You Begin? 83

Enlist a Personal Development Board to Help You 84

Quick and Dirty Takeaways from This Chapter 88

Chapter 4 Communicate 90

Six Steps to Clear and Effective Communication 95

Navigating the Politics of Your Business 105

How to Report on Data, Trends, and Findings 109

Quick and Dirty Takeaways on Communication 111

Checklist for Factor 1: Develop Your Foundational Skills 112

Chapter 5 Factor 2-Establish the Vision 114

Creating a Vision and Strategy for Your Function 119

The Visioning Process 122

Strategizing 123

How Will You Know If You've Succeeded? 127

Quick and Dirty Takeaways for Factor 2 129

Checklist for Factor 2: Establish the vision 130

Chapter 6 Factor 3-Engage Stakeholders 132

The Governance Board 133

Quick and Dirty Takeaways for Factor 3 143

Checklist for Factor 3: Engage Stakeholders 144

Chapter 7 Factor 4-Build Your Strategic Plan 146

Plan, Do, Study, Act 151

Ask the Right Business Impact Questions 153

Know Your Enablers and Barriers 156

Finalize Your Business Impact Questions 160

Quick and Dirty Takeaways from This Chapter 162

Chapter 8 Create Your Impact Blueprint 164

Link Investments to Business Outcomes 167

Put Your Blueprint Into Action 181

Quick and Dirty Takeaways from This Chapter 184

Checklist for factor 4: Build your strategic plan 185

Chapter 9 Factor 5-Execute Your Strategic Plan 186

Change 187

Use the Rungs of the Ladder 189

Build and Lead a Winning Team for Everyday Execution 190

Using Data to Show Progress on Your Impact Blueprint 193

Update Your Impact Blueprint 200

Quick and Dirty Takeaways for Factor 5 203

Checklist for Factor 5: Execute Your Strategic Plan 204

Chapter 10 Factor 6-Make Decisions to Win 206

What Happens When You Stumble? 210

Strategic Leadership is an Ongoing Journey 212

Quick and Dirty Takeaways for Factor 6 214

Checklist for Factor 6: Make Decisions to Win 215

Conclusion 216

Be In Touch 222

Acknowledgements 223

Recommended Reading 225

About the Authors 227

Editorial Reviews

If you've ever been told to "be more strategic" and wondered how to do it, this is the book for you.” —Marshall Goldsmith, New York Times #1 bestselling author of Triggers and What Got You Here Won't Get You There

“This is the book that you've been searching for if you need to take your strategic leadership to the next level. Thomas and Boyle pare down an overwhelming process into six factors for making smart decisions and showing other leaders that you are a strategic peer. Even seasoned leaders will find gems of wisdom from two women who've built successful careers and are eager to share what they've learned.” —Jan Fields, Former President, McDonald's USA; on Forbes' "World's 100 Most Powerful Women" and Fortune's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" lists

“Being more strategic is really about what it takes to be more effective and efficient, leading yourself and others to places you have never been before. Diana and Stacey are correct that this quest is an ongoing journey, which begins with exploring your inner territory before venturing out into the field. Their framework nicely blends the hard and soft skills (quantitative and qualitative) required to move beyond tactics, considering the essential question of "why?" The book comes alive through sharing their own personal journeys (especially hard lessons learned through mistakes), along with many practical illustrations and highlighted action steps.” —Barry Z. Posner, PhD; Michael J. Accolti, S.J. Chair; Professor of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University; and co-author of The Leadership Challenge

“At a time when diversity of leadership is becoming a highly sought after asset in the most powerful organizations, Thomas and Boyle give you the guide book to building your ladder of success. It doesn't matter where you are today—this book will get you where you want to be tomorrow.” —Rosina Racioppi, President and CEO, WOMEN Unlimited

“I'm more strategic and successful for having been coached by Diana and Stacey, so I was delighted to find lots of great personal examples throughout the book. The content lays out a clear path that will help any business leader learn how to strategically build out a plan for success with chapter takeaways and checklists that guide the process step by step, or rung by rung. —Alexandra Mustafa, Training Leader, Penske Motor Group

“In the book Be More Strategic in Business, the authors have created an excellent treatise of leadership behaviors to improve business outcomes. There are useable, actionable nuggets of information for leaders to employ right away.” —Jack Groppel, PhD; Cofounder, Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, and Author, The Corporate Athlete

“Connecting investments and meaningful business results is a challenge for many critical business functions. The Impact Blueprint provided by Thomas and Boyle is a powerful tool for aligning to the business and driving meaningful change.” —Karen Kocher, Global General Manager, 21st Century Jobs, Skills and Employability, Microsoft

“By sharing the wisdom gained in their own successful careers as business leaders, Thomas and Boyle have created a practical guide for anyone who has been told they need to be more strategic.” —Dennis Kennedy, Founder & Chair, National Diversity Council

“This book demystifies the process of showing the outcomes of investments using a simple, practical tool, which we have successfully used to communicate with stakeholders and donors. However, it goes further than that, pulling together the many skill sets needed to successfully lead a thriving organization.” —James Collins, Director, Learning and Advocacy at Greater Twin Cities United Way

From the Publisher