The article tell us about the ten Contributing experiences that contributed to the development of a

person’s ability to think strategically, and those experiences represented four levels of interaction:
personal, interpersonal, organizational and external. Every executive did not benefit from all 10
experiences, and no two executives had the same set of experiences. But each individual
described at least one experience at each of the four levels of interaction.

Family Upbringing/Education “Family upbringing” and “education” are grouped together because
the study participants discussed them interchangeably; the two types of experiences typically
occurred simultaneously, reinforcing one another. One aspect noted was the value of exploring
different perspectives, for example, through travel and exposure to different cultures as well as
through debate training and practice of the Socratic method.

General Work Experiences: The participants cited experience in a variety of organizational types
and locations, which provided exposure to numerous strategic issues and familiarity with a
breadth of strategies. The most important factor here was the responsibility for significant projects
(for example, implementing the merger of two organizations, evaluating a business for sale or
turning around an organization that was facing bankruptcy) and the freedom to make most, if not
all, of the decisions related to those initiatives.

Becoming a CEO: This experience is somewhat paradoxical. Many boards want individuals who
already have expertise in strategic thinking as their CEOs. But many of the study participants cited
becoming a CEO as important to the development of their strategic thinking because, with that
promotion, they gained access to important information which enabled a “big picture” view of
their business

Being Mentored: Many executives have mentors, but not all mentors help others to develop their
strategic thinking. Those who do are individuals who are in frequent contact with the executive (at
least once daily), providing immediate feedback. Moreover, their influence starts early in an
executive’s career, within a few years of that individual’s first job, perhaps as a first boss.

Being Challenged: By a Key Colleague Colleagues played an important role by challenging the
thinking of the executives. Individuals performing this role worked very closely with the executive,
for example, as his boss, board chairman or organization’s vice president of planning. In general,
the interactions were private and spontaneous, with a wide range in tone from relaxed, informal
conversations to highly aggressive, confrontational exchanges.

Monitoring Results/Benchmarking: The participants cited the importance of their involvement in

monitoring the operational and market performance of their organizations. Such efforts were
usually extensive and fairly sophisticated. Market data, for example, were often segmented by
geography and demographics, with information on purchaser preferences and use, and views of
competitors detailed by the various market segments. Other key data tracked each market
segment’s stated preferences in relation to the actual behavior of those customers.
Doing Strategic Planning: The development of strategic thinking ability is enhanced by
participation in strategic planning processes with three characteristics. The first is having planning
sessions with management teams on a regular basis, often monthly or quarterly. The second is
preparation for these sessions, such as the required reading of materials that help focus people’s
thinking and provide a sense of the meeting’s purpose. The third is the formal output of the
planning process: often an overall plan followed by business-unit goals and tactical plans. But even
less structured output — establishing a general direction and immediate next steps, for example
— can help develop an executive’s strategic thinking.

Spearheading a Major Growth Initiative: These projects must involve significant complexity, be
both capital and labor intensive and require at least a year to complete. Examples include
establishing a new program (developing the business case, obtaining regulatory approval,
overseeing facility construction and recruiting staff), acquiring an organization (identifying,
negotiating with and acclimating the new group) and building a new facility (that is, overseeing its
construction). As with the category of general work experiences, the freedom to make important
decisions makes these projects valuable to the development of strategic thinking ability.

Dealing With a Threat to Organizational Survival: The types of threats that most contribute to the
development of strategic thinking are those that involve attempts at control by another entity,
which occur repeatedly and that could have a severe impact on the executive’s organization. Such
experiences typically force a major rethinking of issues that strike at the core of the individuals
involved, substantially sharpening their focus.

Vicarious Experiences: This category includes interactions with others in similar roles, with the
frequency of contact being an important factor. Usually, the contact is maintained for several
years with a wide range of frequency: The interaction could occur monthly for a few hours,
quarterly for one day or three days twice annually. In many cases, the regular contact is enhanced
by small group interactions and social time, for example, a monthly professional meeting of CEOs
that includes sessions in which people break into smaller groups (perhaps geared toward specific
topics) followed by dinner with ample time for networking opportunities. The study participants
also noted the benefit of vicarious experiences gained through indirect means, such as by reading
business publications.

Pattern 1: The Development of Understanding:

In this developmental pattern, expertise in strategic thinking arises from the culmination of various
experiences (small ovals) which provide new and different perspectives. The experiences occur
over years, and each is fueled by the individual’s natural curiosity (large oval). This figure is a
reproduction of the actual map created during interactions with one executive in the study who
best exemplified this particular pattern of development.

The Overall Developmental Process The development of an executive’s ability to think strategically
develops gradually over a considerable amount of time. Most participants in the study said they
took more than 10 years to acquire their expertise, and during that time their confidence grew as
they became more comfortable dealing with increasing levels of business complexity and
ambiguity. Interestingly, the executives described their development in a manner consistent with
one of three distinct patterns. The patterns, which can best be understood through graphic maps
that were created with the participants, provide valuable insights into how expertise in strategic
thinking is acquired.

Pattern 2: The Practice of Rational Planning

In this developmental pattern, expertise in strategic thinking is the result of the executive
continually asking the same three questions (large ovals): Where are we going? How are we
getting there? Are we executing efficiently? The arrows denote the flow of knowledge from the
various experiences (small ovals) to the three questions. Note that an experience can provide
value to more than one of the questions. This figure is a reproduction of the actual map created
during interactions with one executive in the study who best exemplified this particular pattern of
development.

Pattern 3: The Completion of a Hierarchy of Challenges

The final developmental pattern is portrayed as the tackling of bigger and bigger business
challenges, with the executive’s ability to think strategically growing continuously over time. Key
features include modest initial activity followed by a step-like progression. The catalysts to
movement can be either positive or negative: opportunities to build new services as well as
pressures from financial losses, takeover attempts and other challenges to survival. Expertise in
thinking strategically is acquired by meeting and effectively dealing with the challenges, with each
experience improving the executive’s ability.

In conclusion, The three patterns reflect how executives described the ways in which they learned
to think strategically. They illustrate both what occurred and how the executives approached
those experiences. The salient point here is that all the executives in the study described their
development in a manner that was consistent with one of the three patterns. Improving Strategic
Thinking The study results have a number of implications for companies in their efforts to improve
the strategic thinking of their executives. The important thing to remember, though, is that any
development program must be highly individual because no two people will absorb the same
experience in exactly the same way. Nevertheless, some general guidelines do apply. Experiences
that contribute most to the development of strategic thinking tend to take place over a year or
more and require significant responsibility on the part of the individual — usually the performance
of a task that is materially new to that person. Moreover, it’s crucial to remember that the
development of expertise in strategic thinking takes at least a decade, during which time many of
those experiences must be continually repeated. With all this in mind, the following approaches
should benefit companies in their efforts to develop the strategic thinking of their managers.