Customer Reviews

Being Strategic: Plan for Success; Out-think Your Competitors; Stay Ahead of Change

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4 star:		(1)
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For organizations as well as for individuals, strategies resemble "hammers" and tactics resemble "nails" in that the former are needed to drive the latter. To extend the use of metaphors, it is also important to have the right hammer and the right nail, locate the nail properly, and then hit it with sufficient force. If I understand what Erika Andersen is explaining in this book, this is what "being strategic" is all about when making decisions that concern one's career and personal life. As Yogi Berra is alleged to have said, "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." Therefore, it is imperative to envision a desired future because having that clearly in mind will guide and inform the decisions that are made, including non-decisions. (I agree with Michael Porter: "The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.") In this volume, Andersen immediately establishes a personal rapport with her reader with effective use of direct address and sustains it as she responds to "how to" questions such as these:

Formulate a desired future?
Define the challenge(s)?
Identify the barriers?
Craft appropriate strategies?
Select appropriate tactics?
Execute effectively and efficiently?
Measure progress?
Recognize and then make necessary course corrections?
Involve others to obtain their support and assistance?

These are questions that must be addressed by individuals who are dissatisfied with the progress of their career and/or the quality of their personal lives. They are the same questions that must be addressed by those involved in project teams.

Readers will appreciate that throughout her narrative, Andersen includes self-directed ("Try It Out") exercises that can be completed within the book. This is a format I have always favored in combination with a reader's highlighting of key points. (I do not understand why more authors do not use it.) Other reader-friendly devices include strategic use of bold face, checklists, summaries of key points, graphics (i.e. Figures), and an "In Real Life" section that concludes each chapter that asks the reader to correlate material in the book with specific circumstances in her or his own life. Obviously, these are correlations only the reader can make and, as Andersen surely intended, actively involve the reader in a journey of discovery as well as well as a process to achieve ultimate success, however defined.

Readers who have supervisory responsibilities are urged to check out Andersen's previously published book, How to Grow Great Employees: Turning Ordinary People into Extraordinary Performers. (It is now available in a paperbund edition with a new Preface.) Given the fact that all organizations need effective leadership and management at all levels and in all areas, I think both of her books are essential to gaining an understanding of (a) how to become a fully-developed person at work and in one's personal life and (b) how to help others to do so, also.

Likely one of the clearest books on strategy I have ever read. Many of our clients come to us with processes and plans that are an undisciplined mix of tactics and strategy. Anderson makes a some good definitions of strategy and tactics (e.g. Strategy is where you want to be, tactics is how you will get there) . The author clearly understands group dynamics making this an essential handbook on getting groups through strategy planning and execution sessions. (I wish I had had this book 30 years ago. ) An easy read with sufficient activities and exercises that the reader has ample opportunity to imprint the learning.

Several years ago an organization asked me to evaluate the strategic plan they had spent a lot of time and money creating just three years before. I made the rounds of the key executives.

"Do you use the strategic plan?" I asked. Executive after executive said, "No." A couple asked me which strategic plan I meant. Then I walked into Ed's office and asked my question.

"Oh, sure," said Ed. "I use it every day. It's great"

I was excited. "What's great about it?"

Ed jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "It keeps that door propped open so it won't slam shut when I open the window." He chuckled.

I turned to see the three fat binders that held the plan stacked in front of a door. The scales fell from my eyes.

I had studied business in school. My comprehensive exam was on strategy. Business strategies of that time were modeled on the -vaunted GE Strategic Planning system. And they produced plans like the one that propped open Ed's door.

Those plans had several things in common. The most important was an unspoken belief in the possibility of accurate prediction and the power of precise, detailed planning. They were mostly based on a combination of what businesspeople understood as the military model of strategy, combined with a Growth/Share matrix derived from GE, and something about learning curves.

They planned for a predicted future. Then the plans laid out a detailed response to that future.

Scenario planning was talked about a lot, especially after an article in the Harvard Business Review by Shell's Pierre Wack. But for most of the companies using the term, "scenario planning" amounted to making lots of detailed plans.

Those plans were costly to prepare. They had virtually no effect on day-to-day operations. The executives and their staffs who created them would have done well to heed the following two quotes.

"Plans are nothing. Planning is everything." ~ Dwight Eisenhower

"When it comes to strategy, ponder less and do more." ~ Jack Welch.

For a while now, my favorite book on strategy has been Warfighting, the strategic doctrine of the US Marines. It's short, simple, and it's more about asking questions than giving answers.

But as good as that book is, it's still a military model. That's good, but I really wanted to see a strategy book that wasn't military.

Last year, I was chatting with Erika Andersen and she mentioned the book she was writing. The more she talked, the more excited I got, because it seemed like she was going to write the very book I wanted to read. She did.

The premise of the book is that "being strategic" means consistently making "core directional choices" that move you toward the future you want. Here's a quick outline of the process.

How can we ...? Defining the challenge.

What is - Pulling back the camera.

What's the hope? - Reasonable aspiration

What's in the way? - Facing the facts

Where's the path? - Roadway first, then asphalt

That's solid and simple and workable, but so far this looks like other strategy systems. You ask a bunch of questions and develop your strategy. The big difference is what happens next.

In most strategy books, what happens next is you go off and implement the strategy. Erika Andersen suggests that what you should do is live your strategy. And that makes more sense.

The metaphor that Andersen uses is that of a Welsh castle, Criccieth. The castle was built in the 13th Century. Since then it's been modified and added to. Parts have disappeared. Others have been created. For Andersen, both the castle and your strategy should be living, changing things.

The key to this book is the question: "How do I get from where I am to where I'm going?" It's a question that you ask over and over again. That's what it means to "be strategic" or to live your strategy as a set of actions and choices.

There's advice about how make this work for you and more advice about how to use the concepts in a group situation. The concepts are effective, but with this book, like Andersen's earlier book, Growing Great Employees, God is in the details. The writing is superb, the examples are well chosen and the stories are well-told.

I recommend Being Strategic to just about anyone with even a passing interest in strategy. It will help you get better results in your life and your business and any other organization you care about. With this book you'll live your strategy instead of burying it in binders.

The author very effectively breaks down a nebulous topic into an action oriented plan molded around a story of building a castle on the hill around a 1100 AD in Wales...really enjoyed the read and have three people that I am mentoring at work also buy and read the book.

You will not be disappointed.

A very clear and logical system for creating strategies for any objective. I've used it several times and found it to be very effective.

Who today hasn't let fear interfere with their decision making? Erika Andersen says that "being strategic is the antidote to fear" and she's right. This book helps you get clear on the future you want (in business and in life) and make the right core directional choices to get you there. This puts YOU in the driver's seat instead of fear.

This is the first book of it's kind where I've been able to implement the approach and see a payoff. It's practical, simple and engaging.

Let's say I live in Princeton and I need to get to NYC by 3 PM this afternoon in order to attend a meeting. This is my problem. Do I try to thumb a ride as a hitchhiker and hope I get there in time? Do I rent a car and just drive north and follow the road signs (hopefully I'll see some) that say "NYC this way?" Do I catch the train at Princeton Junction and head north to NY's Penn Station? Or do I get a map and find the easiest driving route to take while driving my own car? The point is all these ways will work, but some will work better than others. And one will work the best for me when considering all the alternatives. If I seek out the best solution to my problem, then I will have "strategized" my trip to NYC.

Just about all problems can be solved by strategizing. And when you solve your problems by strategizing, then you are "being strategic." Ah, that brings us to the title of this book. And this book is about solving problems by finding the best solution. It is split into two parts and 15 chapters as follows:

I. Being strategic every day (2-10)
II. Being strategic with a group (11-15)

0. Intro: If I hear the word "strategic" one more time, I'll ...
1. The castle on the hill
2. Defining the challenge: How can we ... ?
3. What is: Pulling back the camera
4. What's the hope: Reasonable aspiration
5. What's in the way: Facing the facts
6. What's the path: Roadway first, then asphalt
7. The art of crafting strategy
8. Tactics that work
9. Building on success
10. The castle of you
11. Inviting others into the process
12. Crafting a strategic vision
13. Athe art of facilitation
14. Strategy as a way of life
15. Castle building fro fun & profit

I thought the book was pretty well written and organized. I'm not a huge fan of strategic planning books even though I have read and reviewed a number of them on Amazon. None have gotten a coveted 5-star rating from me - and this one will not be an exception. I think I would have liked the book better if it had really explained what it was talking about well. Instead, we got a mix of a book and a workbook. Yep, the author actually expected me to write on some of the pages. Wow!

I thought there was a little too much talk in this book about how strategy is hard to define or understand. It's really pretty simple. There is a starting point A and and desired point B. Something has to happen to get from A to B and it can be done in different ways. It's your job to come up with options to make the trip and then choose the best option under the circumstances. That's strategizing in a nutshell. I just summarized it in less than a paragraph and the author took a lot more pages than that to do it. And I didn't ask you to write anything down. 4 stars!

I read a lot of business books. Some of them are so technical and complex that it makes my eyes glaze over. Great for falling asleep at bedtime, but not the kind of practical information that becomes part of how I think and operate on a day-to-day basis. The best part of this book, is Andersen's down-to-earth, common sense approach to becoming more strategic - at work and in life.

The book takes what can often be a complicated and tedious process and simplifies it to the core of what it means to truly "be strategic" - having the ability to create a plan that guides and coordinates effective action toward a desired goal. The book explores what it means to use this skill as an individual and as a leadership team. It's both a "how-to manual" as well as an explanation of why being strategic is so critical to success. I can't think of anything more important for executives, especially as we navigate through these challenging economic times. Mastering this set of skills - being able to consistently make choices that move you toward your desired future - is one of the best antidotes I know to the fear and uncertainty that many people are experiencing as a result of the current global recession.

I find the book "Being Strategic" by Erika Andersen to be an invaluable resource. Written in a clear, accessible, direct style, this book is very practical while also offering profound and subtle insights as to what it really takes to be strategic and why this matters. The book will be useful for anyone trying to be more strategic in any area of their personal lives in order to create the future they desire, as well as for those looking to clarify and achieve the desired future for their groups and organizations, as well. Highly recommended and a book I expect to return to again and again!