Defining Strategic Thinking

In this chapter, vocabulary is clarified and defined starting with strategy-making and strategy. The traditionally relevant key terms and characteristics of strategy-making, including sustainability; competitive advantage and value; stakeholders; change; processes and approaches; and the long-term nature of strategy, are debated and reframed in the light of our complex environment. A model for strategy-making that combines sustainability, concern for absolute value, people's needs, change, prescriptive and emergent strategy (a hybrid approach), and a long-term view is proposed. The skills for strategy-making are then confirmed, combining strategic management and leadership skills into strategic thinking. Strategic thinking should be at the centre of an outlook where a strategic thinker pays attention to the larger eco-system (society/life) of which we as individuals, and businesses and organisations, are a part. This chapter highlights the importance of the constituent parts of the eco-system, represented by the PESTLE acronym, which forms the framework for chapters 3 to 9 of this book.