On the importance of being strategic ....

All political leanings and emotions aside, now more than ever, organizations must concentrate on being strategic in everything they do. When we say strategic, we mean think about the future, not just the immediate crisis. Some very wise organizational leaders (they know who they are) have initiated full-scale long range planning and capacity building projects in the midst of economic turmoil. History, research and experience would almost guarantee that their organizations will be the most successful in their market over the next 10 years because of the strategic vision being employed.

It is paradoxical that so much empirical evidence exists that organizations should take a thoughtful and well researched approach to all of their operations, yet so few actually do. This applies to main-stream, small to medium size organizations as well as large conglomerates. Taking a short-term, parochial view of your business may lead only to mediocrity and will likely lead to lack of sustainability.

True genius is in taking calculated risks that are embedded in a long-term strategic plan. Pushing the envelope, as they say, is the only way true economic progress will be made. That envelope should be crafted from an over-arching and well researched plan which is created by a diversity of thinking and viewpoints. In addition, those same "viewpoints" should be regularly invited to a collective review and re-positioning of the plan over the years.