Proceed Until Apprehended

Thinking strategically vs. being strategic. There’s a difference. In fact, the more you delve into it, the more they look like they might be opposites.

As a strategic thinker, you’re pretty good at nuances, reading the tea leaves and coming up with solutions that negotiate all the pitfalls. You can see what needs to happen to get things done and dispatch problems with efficiency. Strategic thinkers are intelligent, perhaps even crafty. They can think a move ahead of their opposition. I like strategic thinkers. They see issues with clarity and get closer to root causes. They think up solutions that are more sustainable and more effective. Not every strategic thinker, however, uses their knowledge for the best possible results.

Strategic thinkers don’t necessarily take the steps required to move the intiative towards the best solution. That’s not the assignment. Strategic thinkers can guarantee you efficiency and smart maneuvering within the prescribed rules of the game. It seems that sometimes strategic thinkers see what doesn’t work, but they determine that the cost of change is too great compared to the benefit of the improvement. If it’s the wrong game or if the process doesn’t create the results it used to, a strategic thinker that doesn’t want to bear the possible pain that comes with change might be the one thing holding a flawed structure together. That is short-sighted and unhelpful. 

There’s a different level to strategy, the level where you know the rules of the game are wrong and profound results will only be achieved only if the rules are broken. If you see those deeper problems, congratulations. You’ve done an exceptional job of thinking strategically. As a next step, if you act on your knowledge to improve the game, the rules or the system, in my books you’ve moved from thinking strategically to being strategic.

If you want action outside the prescribed rules, you should seek out someone who is willing to be strategic. More important than knowing some crafty next steps, you need the person who will combine altruism with a sense of the long-term to deliver action that serves best interests, not assignments.

Are they opposites? Maybe the strategic thinker and the strategic doer, but a strategic thinker that doesn’t want to take pursue change is a dangerous enemy. They can be a formidable opponent of your efforts to change. If it weren’t for change-averse smart people, I think we’d move a lot more quickly.

With brilliant simplicity, Seth Godin has offered an opportunity for his readers to connect with others in their area.

Here’s his post, but don’t click away just yet. I want to impress upon you how smart I think this is.

Presumably, Seth Godin’s readers are everywhere.  One of the problems, however, is that the ideas and concepts he’s sharing create short-term discomfort when you practice them. Being a Linchpin or leading a Tribe (his two most recent books) require you to buck convention, speak truth to power and stand up for change. In my experience, the large majority of people in your off-line world are going to react negatively to this behaviour. The ones that agree with you are hard to find and you can’t identify them. If only we had special hats or t-shirts. 

I humbly suggest that Regina, Saskatchewan, my location, is worse off than most. We’re a government town in a resource-based province. A new reality hasn’t really hit here yet.

Seth Godin just put his hand out to me. He said, “I know it’s hard. You’re not alone.” For one glorious evening, I’ll be able to see the people in Regina that are having a similar experience. If you’re in Regina and buy this stuff, I hope to see you there.