Elevate: The Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking

194 Pages·2014·2.84 MB·English

by  Rich Horwath

E L E V A T E

E L E V A T E
THE THREE DISCIPLINES OF
ADVANCED STRATEGIC THINKING
R I C H H O R W A T H
Cover image: ©track5/iStockphoto
Cover design: Wiley
Copyright © 2014 by Rich Horwath. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Horwath, Rich.
Elevate : the three disciplines of advanced strategic thinking / Rich Horwath.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-59646-3 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-65324-1 (ebk);
ISBN 978-1-118-65350-0 (ebk)
1. Strategic planning. I. Title.
HD30.28.H682 2014
658.4'012—dc23
2013046707
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my wife Anne, daughter Jessica, and son Luke,
who, at five years old, compared my CD on
strategy to a sermon at church:
“There’s a lot of talking, I don’t understand most of it,
and I think I’m getting sleepy.”

CONTENTS
1
INTRODUCTION
Elevate 1
Importance of Strategy 3
Top 10 Strategy Challenges 5
GOST Framework 12
Strategy Defined 14
Thinking Strategically 16
1,000-Foot View 21
Coalesce 23
DISCIPLINE #1:
Patterns in Strategy 26
Systems 32
Platforms 34
Business Model 39
Phase I of the Business Model: Value Creation 40
Phase II of the Business Model: Value Delivery 44
Phase III of the Business Model: Value Capture 48
Profitable Growth 52
Strategy and Innovation 58
Types of Innovation 59
1,000-Foot View 67
Compete 69
DISCIPLINE #2:
Competitive Condition 73
Leader 73
Challenger 76
Spectator 82
Competitive Advantage 84
Competitive Intelligence 88
Trade-Off Zone 91
vii
viii Contents
Indirect Competition 94
Intangible Competition 97
1,000-Foot View 102
Champion 103
DISCIPLINE #3:
Using Time Strategically 106
Time Trade-Off Techniques 109
Influencing Strategy Commitment 112
Increasing Buy-In with Social Proof 115
Strategic Behavior 119
Practicing Strategic Thinking 122
Developing Strategy Habits 129
Strategy Conversations 134
The Power of Story 138
Creating a Strategy Story 141
1,000-Foot View 145
147
CONCLUSION
When to Change Strategy 147
Fire Prevention 149
Tactical Evaluation Matrix 151
Strategy Launch Review 153
Strategy Scaffold 155
Strategic I Am 157
1,000-Foot View 160
Notes 163
Index 173
Acknowledgments 181
About the Author 183