Behaviors and attitudes
You have the makings of a strategic thinker if you continually anticipate your actions' impact on a wide range of individuals—including, but not limited to, your boss, direct reports, peers, and customers.
To do this, you need to:
- Seek other people's opinions
- Ask questions and challenge assumptions about how the world works.
- Focus on the future
- Identify the forces driving your unit and company's performance and think about how to improve that performance
- Watch the competition
- Reassess who your customers are and what they value
- Stay up to date on developments occurring in your unit, in other groups in the company, and in your industry overall
- Open yourself to ongoing learning by reading books, magazines, and industry reports; attending seminars; and talking with experts
By practicing these behaviors, you more readily spot valuable new opportunities to capitalize on. And you identify and repel potential threats before they can do any real damage.