Strategic: The Skill to Set Direction, Create Advantage, and Achieve Executive Excellence - Hardcover

Horwath, Rich

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1394215339 ISBN 13: 9781394215331

Publisher: Wiley, 2023

Synopsis

Master the four disciplines of strategic fitness essential to executive performance

In Strategic, New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Rich Horwath delivers an incisive roadmap to help leaders at all levels think, plan, and act strategically to navigate every business challenge they face. The book offers business leaders a proven framework―the Strategic Fitness System―containing dozens of tools, techniques, and checklists to confidently master every area of the business, from designing market-winning strategies to shaping the organization’s culture.

The practical content will help executives in any industry improve what research has shown to be the most important leadership factor to an organization’s future success―strategic competence―and use this skill to transform complexity to clarity in charting their strategic direction. The book features:

• A common language for strategy and business planning
• Practical tools for developing the four dimensions of executive fitness key to advancing the company’s growth: strategy, leadership, organization, and communication
• Techniques for designing enduring competitive advantage and frameworks for creating innovative new value for customers
• Methods for evolving the business model to transform the trajectory of the business
• The Strategic Quotient (SQ)―a validated assessment of an executive’s strategic thinking, planning, and execution

With practical tools and dozens of real-world examples, readers of Strategic will immediately be able to set direction, create advantage, and achieve executive excellence. Be more than tactical―be Strategic.

About this title

About the Author

RICH HORWATH is founder and CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute where he is a strategy facilitator, advisor, and coach to executive leadership teams. He is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of eight books on strategic thinking and rated the number one keynote speaker on strategy at national events such as the Society for Human Resource Management Strategy Conference. Rich has helped more than a quarter million people develop their strategic thinking and planning skills over the past two decades in pursuit of his vision to teach the world to be strategic.

From the Back Cover

MASTER THE FOUR DISCIPLINES OF STRATEGIC FITNESS THAT DRIVE ELITE EXECUTIVE PERFORMANCE

“Strategic distills the essence of strategy and strategic thinking into its constituent parts and provides a clear framework and guidelines to elevate these capabilities within an organization. Rich provides executives with all the tools necessary to strategically lead their businesses and achieve their goals.”
―MICHAEL COMBS, President and CEO, CorVel Corporation

“Rich is a lighthouse providing process, tools, and guidance to help anyone navigate to a clear, focused, and actionable strategy. His knowledge, experience, and examples of strategy in action are invaluable.”
―MARTIN SCHRAY, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation

“Strategic presents a comprehensive guide and clear, relatable examples for strategic thinking in all facets of business. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to improve their strategic thinking and planning skills and take their leadership to the next level.”
―SHEA UEBELHOR, Co-Founder, Cayke

“Rich simplifies strategy into a universal language that anyone from anywhere can understand. In a skills-based ecosystem, Strategic provides hundreds of practical principles, tips, and tools for developing, applying, and communicating with clarity your ability to be strategic while others are tactical.”
―JASON ZEMAN, Director, Strategic Enablement Leader, Deloitte

“Strategic provides logical, useful, and understandable tools for any leader to enhance their strategic abilities to effectively navigate all areas of their business. It grabs your attention immediately and will catapult you into the world of strategic expertise.”
―ROB SCHNEIDER, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Omron Healthcare

From the Inside Flap

Strategic leaders must first and foremost be effective navigators, determining their organization’s current position and setting direction for the future. A study of 250,000 executives showed that setting strategic direction is the most important role of a leader and the number one factor that improves organizational health. Despite this, more research found only 22 percent of employees strongly agreed that the leaders of their organization have set a clear direction. Strategic thinking can’t wait for the annual company retreat―it’s something that must be prioritized and practiced every day to produce transformative results. Now is the time to be strategic.

New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author on strategic thinking Rich Horwath brings his two decades of experience helping more than a quarter million leaders around the world develop their strategic capabilities to write Strategic, with its proven framework to navigate any business to create its competitive advantage. The journey begins with the Strategic Quotient^™ (SQ) Assessment, a validated tool to determine how effectively a person can think, plan, and act strategically. From there, Horwath defines what it means to be strategic and shares a blueprint for executives to use this skill in all areas of their business on a daily basis.

Strategic’s navigational framework is designed from the concept of strategic fitness: the capability to extract insights from the environment in order to create advantage for the business and superior value for customers. With Horwath’s guidance, leaders will master the four dimensions of strategic fitness that contribute to executive performance:

Strategy Fitness: the ability to understand and develop strategy, set direction, allocate resources, make decisions, and create competitive advantage.

Leadership Fitness: a leader’s philosophy, personal performance, mental training, and ability to master time and calendar.

Organization Fitness: the ability to create the appropriate business structure, evolve the business model, develop talent while planning for succession, and innovate.

Communication Fitness: the facilitation of conversations, effective collaboration, bringing value to customers, and leading productive meetings.

The essential meta-skill of a leader is to navigate their business with a thorough understanding of their current situation, vision to see the future destination, and the ability to create the path to reach it. When you have the knowledge, tools, and skills to navigate your business, it produces both competence and confidence. How do you acquire, maintain, and grow the ability to successfully navigate your business, moving from your current position, over and through obstacles, to reach your goals? Be strategic.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1394215339
• ISBN 13: 9781394215331
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304