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Think Strategically Video Transcript

Leadership In FastTime® is about achieving breakthrough performance and it begins with developing the right mindsets.

In this video, I’ll give you a brief overview of the first mindset for breakthrough performance --- Think Strategically.

Organizations that win in today’s environment invariably have one thing in common—committed, proactive leaders who think strategically about their organization’s challenges and opportunities and they act accordingly.

That was the case with my client Texas Instruments (TI). For over ten years, during a period when many of its competitors, including Intel and Motorola, were experiencing major growth in their market value, TI’s market value was flat. By the mid 1990’s, TI’s leaders began to realize that the problem was not their tactical capabilities. It was lack of smart strategic thinking.

So how did TI put that insight into practice and what was the result?

In a series of strategic thinking sessions that engaged over two hundred top leaders, they shaped a new vision and new strategic focus. Instead of continuing to fight competitors for a share of the memory chip market, TI targeted the explosive market for digital signal processors—DSPs, which are a key component of Internet and mobile communication devices. And, most importantly, they decided to dominate the DSP market. They sold their huge defense unit, a scared cow, in order to pump more money into the DSP effort. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal the CEO declared, "This isn't a market we want to play in; this is the market where we intend to win." And they did win and win big: TI’s market value increased six-fold obver the next three years.

So what are the indicators of leaders who Think strategically? They get outside the box of the status quo and take a hard look at their current results and current direction. If nececcesary, let go of the past and their scared cows. They shape new ambitious goals and they develop smart, innovative strategies to achieve them. Last, but not least, think long-term and consider the cumulative effects of their strategies over time.

My favorite example of the cummulative effects of a strategy is the case of the six-year old girl whose older brother thought she was a dimwit because every time he gave her the choice between a shinny new dime and an old rumpled dollar, she chose the dime. He thought this was so hilarious that whenever his friends were around, he entertained them by offering his younger sister the dime-or-dollar choice, and he did this over and over, month after month. What the brother failed to see was that his sister had a smart strategy. Her goal was to collect as many dimes as possible over the long-term,and, as long as she never chose the dollar, her brother kept giving her the dimes.

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that says, “If we do not change our direction we are likely to end up where we are headed.” “Think strategically” is about deciding where you want to end up and how you’re going to there. In this regard, consider these three questions:

• How thoroughly have you considered the cumulative effects of your current course?

• How often do you to get outside the box and look the Big Picture and its implications?

• What are some of the potential benefits of impoving your strategic thinking process?

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