BrainZooming

JULY 9, 2019

One reader asked recently about stretching a senior executive team’s thinking during strategic planning. She is seeking strategic thinking exercises to include in her organization’s executive committee senior retreat. 12 Strategic Thinking Exercises to Stretch Executive Perspectives. Here are our suggestions for strategic thinking exercises to lead an executive team to consider its current situation and future opportunities in dramatically different ways.

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CMOE

APRIL 28, 2021

In a recent survey, 97% of 10,000 senior leaders surveyed said that being strategic was the leadership behavior most important to their organization’s success—but another study indicated that fully 96% of leaders say they lack the time for strategic thinking.*.

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BrainZooming

OCTOBER 7, 2016

We frequently facilitate a strategic thinking exercise that uses a character outside a situation as the perspective. Switching their characteristics unveiled multiple insights about the strategies, decisions, and outcomes related to their interactions. There’s no guarantee this strategic thinking exercise works in every situation. Brainzooming - All Posts Creativity Innovation Insights Strategic Thinking Tools strategic thinking exercise

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BrainZooming

AUGUST 28, 2017

How can you develop strategic thinking exercises to envision the future when it’s so easy to let previous experience cloud your imagination? Romano shared an important insight into the challenge of developing strategic thinking exercises to envision future strategy: “Until you drive an EV, you are colored by 135 years of going to the gas station. 4 Strategic Thinking Exercises to Envision Future Strategy.

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BrainZooming

JULY 24, 2017

More often, however, it seems great ideas come along with a variety of other things that are not going to add tremendous value to creating great strategy. That’s when having the strategic thinking skills to extract the great ideas from everything else is so vital to them seeing the light of day and getting the consideration they deserve. 9 Strategic Thinking Skills to Create Clarity for Great Ideas. Do you stand out at these strategic thinking skills?

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BrainZooming

MAY 19, 2016

While that might be a comforting perspective if you’re fond of business isolationism, it’s rarely true once you start to explore the business strategically. But given our unwillingness to settle for that easy answer, we created a rapid fire strategic thinking exercise to push for ideas. Strategic Thinking Exercise – 17 Questions to Find Innovation Case Studies. Who are our strategic partners? What other companies have similar strategies to ours?

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BrainZooming

MARCH 9, 2017

What could you do to your boring office so you and others are thinking strategically more readily and effectively? Someone searched and came to the Brainzooming.com website looking for strategic thinking in the office examples. While we have a post on doing thinking strategically without leaving the office , we don’t have anything on how the physical surroundings of an office can boost strategic thinking. Strategic Inputs.

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BrainZooming

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

You and others on your senior management team are beginning to see that strategic reality. How, if you are facing this situation, can you initiate a conversation with strategic thinking questions safe enough to raise the issue? 5 Strategic Thinking Questions to Start Reimagining the Organization. Using today as a starting point, reimagine specific strategic aspects, one at a time, to initiate the conversation. Need Fresh Insights to Drive Your Strategy?

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BrainZooming

APRIL 19, 2017

Other than dropping price, in what ways can you adapt your branding strategy to boost the benefits and reduce the costs (be they financial or non-financial) of having your company as a provider? One way to look at your branding strategy to identify new value opportunities is to ask this strategic thinking question: What mistakes are customers prone to make before and after they work with us, and how can we eliminate (maybe even guarantee to eliminate) any of those mistakes?

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BrainZooming

JANUARY 10, 2018

Since The Brainzooming Group launched, we have developed many strategic thinking exercises and models applying our methodology to diverse clients and business situations. We are further along and can even more easily customize these strategic thinking exercises to your needs if you face comparable situations. That is a major benefit if you want an outside, strategic perspective and need to start right now! 16 Strategic Thinking Exercises Ready to Go Right Now!

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BrainZooming

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

At an Idea Magnets workshop, we shared a strategic thinking exercise we call Rock-Paper-Scissors. In the post-workshop evaluation, one attendee asked about extending this strategic thinking exercise to identify things you aren’t currently doing that you should be doing. The individual asking the question suggested it as a fourth element of the Rock-Paper-Scissors strategic thinking exercise (perhaps as Rock Number 2). Stimulate fresh thinking.

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BrainZooming

MAY 8, 2018

5 Strategic Thinking Questions to Engage Employees in Reorganization. I offered him five strategic thinking questions: When is our organization at its best in performing the variety of activities we do? All five strategic thinking questions avoid anyone needing to game the answers to protect themselves or expose anyone else. Looking for Fresh Insights to Drive Strategy? Stimulate fresh thinking.

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BrainZooming

JANUARY 16, 2018

The article inspired a laundry list of strategic thinking exercise prompts to re-imagine a threatened business model when your service offering is under assault from online offerings, bots, or some other form of complete automation. A New Strategic Thinking Exercise. Here is how we see this new strategic thinking exercise coming together. This strategic thinking exercise is straight from the Brainzooming R&D Labs.

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BrainZooming

MAY 8, 2017

Or you receive confirmation from a speaker that what you have been thinking is right (or pretty close to right), and you can take that back to the office and tell the boss. A Strategic Thinking Framework Is Better than an Answer, Really! Instead, I include lots of strategic thinking frameworks for decision making. While these strategic thinking frameworks aren’t answers, they allow you to quickly develop answers even in areas where you lack experience.

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BrainZooming

SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

Nook and cranny strategic thinking exercises. The nook and cranny strategic thinking exercises term popped into my head during a Brainzooming client workshop. Each strategic thinking exercise poster had four or five brand dimensions on the Y-axis. You do the math with this strategic thinking exercise. Want to make sure your team is looking at all the nooks and crannies of your strategy?

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BrainZooming

JULY 18, 2017

5 Strategic Thinking Questions to Answer Before Making a Decision. Here are five strategic thinking questions you should identify well before you are on the verge of making a decision: Who owns making the decision? If you answer those strategic thinking questions early, your decision making will likely be more simple, clear, and streamlined. 9 ideas for introducing your strategic plan with style and impact to engage your organization.

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BrainZooming

DECEMBER 1, 2017

Matt Britton, a millennial generation expert , spoke about the anticipating the Class of 2025 as the keynote speaker on the closing day of the October 2017 Social Media Strategies Summit in New York. His keynote got us thinking about how today’s ten-year-olds (the Class of 2025) will change the landscape for brands, following in the wake of the impact millennials have created. A Future-Looking Strategic Thinking Experiment. Old Hat, Old Thinking, or Both?

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BrainZooming

JULY 6, 2016

This time of year, preparing for upcoming strategic planning exercises may seem like something far in the future. Whether strategic planning is months away or close at hand, however, it’s always smart to get a head start tackling big strategic thinking questions that warrant in-depth consideration. As we look ahead to clients’ strategic planning processes, we’re developing new strategic thinking questions to freshen our Brainzooming strategic planning exercises.

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Ankush Chopra

JULY 16, 2020

Strategy simulation is a powerful method in developing strategy as well as in teaching strategic thinking. In this article, I explain strategy simulation and how it can benefit your organization in teaching strategic thinking as well as in building strategy alignment.

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BrainZooming

JULY 20, 2018

I suggested another one: Go ahead and ask a great strategic thinking question. The next natural question in our conversation was about what types of strategic thinking questions to ask. While I think there’s a Brainzooming blog post for this, it was almost faster to write a new, updated list of questions than to find the post. 21 Strategic Thinking Questions When You Have Nothing to Ask. Creative Thinking Help Is on the Way – Idea Magnets!

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BrainZooming

JANUARY 11, 2017

I jotted down the questions since I saw them as a strong strategic thinking exercise. A Strategic Thinking Exercise for Determining Trustworthiness. Applying this Strategic Thinking Exercise Broadly. This is a great example of a simple strategic thinking exercise to speed and sharpen decision making. What’s even better about these four strategic thinking questions?

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BrainZooming

APRIL 12, 2017

My dad was a huge believer in The Power of Positive Thinking. I think that book, by Norman Vincent Peale (affiliate link) was the first self-help book he tried to get me to read. For some reason, I particularly resisted The Power of Positive Thinking , although I’m hard pressed to say why. For whatever reason, though, I do not think I ever read the book in its entirety. The Power of Positive Thinking Plus Strategic Thinking Questions.

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BrainZooming

AUGUST 15, 2017

We mentioned how frequently we’re being asked to incorporate uncertainty into Brainzooming creativity and strategic thinking presentations. We have considerable content on moving forward amid uncertainty (including the 4 Strategies for Implementing in Uncertain Times eBook), and we’re developing additional strategic thinking pieces on uncertainty and flexibility. What’s Your Implementation Strategy for Uncertain Times?

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BrainZooming

MAY 18, 2016

During a strategic thinking skills workshop for a client, we shared ideas for taking information from varied sources and identifying strategic themes. The picture represents two approaches to strategic thinking skills that analysts I’ve met throughout my career display. In answering the question about what kind of strategic thinking skills and analysis you’re comfortable with performing, the answer should be BOTH types.

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BrainZooming

MARCH 2, 2016

Many organizations are in the early stages of executing new strategies for this year. That is when you discover whether you have a solid, implementable plan or something that (maybe) looks good on paper, but doesn’t work well when you try to execute the strategy. 9 Strategic Thinking Questions for Helping Teams Execute Strategy. Do you personally believe in the strategy? Were serious, strategic people involved in creating the strategy?

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Focused Momentum

AUGUST 28, 2018

Strategy development is the most creative work leadership teams get to do together; rather it should be. Strategic thinking should be the most fun a leadership team has together, but without the right guidance, it can be viewed as mundane. Strategy DevelopmentAll too often poorly facilitated planning efforts become chaotic or worse, boring.

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BrainZooming

MARCH 30, 2017

Fanatics introduced disruptive innovation to its marketplace with an agile strategy. It also uses its agile strategy to market apparel for niche opportunities where it might sell as few as ten t-shirts. Along with the recap, Inside the Executive Suite offered sixteen strategic thinking questions inspired by the Fanatics case study that you can use to explore agile strategy options within your own organization. Developing an Agile Strategy.

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BrainZooming

FEBRUARY 9, 2017

That’s why instead of typing out nine strategic thinking questions from various business conversations (and contemplations) so far this week, I decided to Sharpie marker and share them with you in this image. These are strategic thinking questions our clients are asking. Download our FREE eBook: The 600 Most Powerful Strategic Planning Questions. This Brainzooming strategy eBook features links to 600 proven questions for: Developing Strategy.

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Idea Drop

JULY 20, 2017

There are two distinct (though complementary) ways to work through a problem and develop a solution: we might label them ‘creative thinking’ and ‘strategic thinking’. There are many possible definitions for these two modes of thought, but practically you can think of them in terms of the following principles… The key principles of creative thinking Take your time: a creative thought can strike any time, day or night.

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BrainZooming

OCTOBER 24, 2016

Here’s the strategic thinking question I saw in that moment: Where are your mirrors? Creating Strategic Impact” Leaders are looking for powerful ways to engage strong collaborators to shape shared visions. They need strategic thinkers who can develop strategy and turn it into results. Download this free, action-focused mini-book to: Learn smart ways to separate strategic opportunities from the daily noise of business.

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BrainZooming

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Yesterday’s post on using a new type of SWOT analysis to stimulate bolder strategic conversations in strategy meetings garnered quite a bit of attention. It received enough attention that we decided to share an additional strategic thinking exercise that puts a twist on the typical SWOT analysis. To add depth and breadth to the strategic thinking exercise, however, we add four probes to each area of the SWOT analysis.

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BrainZooming

DECEMBER 16, 2016

Here is a quickie strategic thinking question for you: If you saw your life as a teeter-totter, what rules of life would guide your behaviors and how you treat others? If teeter-totter rules of life guided your strategic thinking and actions, would you. Think about how you being on top means another person is not and treat them with respect, particularly knowing the positions are easily reversed?

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BrainZooming

OCTOBER 10, 2016

Going into a strategy meeting today that is sure to be a snoozer ? Even if you are going into the meeting with the same old people , the same old topics, and the same old expectations to just get a strategy done and put into a notebook on a shelf so you can go back to doing what you’ve always been doing, there is hope! Use a New SWOT Strategic Thinking Exercise Nobody Expects. Yes, try a SWOT strategic thinking exercise looking for ideas that are: Scary.

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BrainZooming

APRIL 5, 2016

The objective was to help them become better strategic thinkers and marketers. Since all the companies competed with one another, each one needed to determine its own business strategies. It seems ridiculous to help a company become better at strategic thinking and marketing without being allowed to tell them how to do it. Strategic Thinking Exercises – 3 Responses to New Ideas. 10 Keys to Engaging Stakeholders to Improve Strategic Results.

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BrainZooming

FEBRUARY 4, 2023

What are actionable, innovative strategies to identify innovative business ideas ahead of customer expectations? Strategy Tools Competitive Strategy Performance Market Research Social media Strategic Thinking Innovation

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BrainZooming

MARCH 30, 2016

In its “Inside the Executive Suite” newsletter, Armada Corporate Intelligence featured a recap and expansion on a Wall Street Journal article called “Win Over a Remote Boss.” The prevalence of remote collaboration (and the new strategic thinking and other challenges those situations can create) prompted sharing the “Inside the Executive Suite” story here in an edited format. Strategic Thinking – 4 Strategies for Successful Remote Collaboration.

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BrainZooming

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

The previous Brainzooming article was on listening for strategic insights in order to not waste strategic conversations. If you understand the types of information you need to develop a strategic plan, you can often get a jump start on completing it simply by listening closely to strategic conversations for valuable input. If you have the right people present , and they are in a chatty mood, how can you morph the gathering into a strategic conversation?

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BrainZooming

OCTOBER 22, 2015

We use strategic thinking exercises and questions as “detours” around organizational thinking that is in a rut. Asking questions in a different way than is typically done forces people to look at new possibilities and actually think before blurting out the standard answers. We have previously shared strategic detours for getting to new thinking about an organization’s threats and opportunities. Innovation Strategy to Grow Your Business?

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BrainZooming

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

7 Strategic Thinking Questions When Things Aren’t Working. When things took an unexpected turn the other day, I mentally flew through various strategic thinking questions trying to comes up with ideas to adjust what we were doing. When you have solid planning (maybe even over-planning), good strategic thinking questions to identify ways to adapt, and an appreciation for flexibility, unexpected events become a wonderful opportunity for learning and developing.

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BrainZooming

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

During in-person and online strategic planning workshops , we regularly use a strategic thinking exercise that helps leadership groups quickly identify a shared future vision statement. Participants assess where they think the organization currently is and where they want it to be in the future on multiple “strategic dimensions.” We place each strategic dimension on a scale having multiple written descriptions of ways to approach it.

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BrainZooming

JANUARY 11, 2016

Here’s an idea for a new strategic thinking exercise that can be a big help. 4 Ways to Examine Brand Performance as a Strategic Thinking Exercise. It struck me how a comparable concept (an Examination of Brand Performance) would be helpful as a strategic thinking exercise for monitoring your organization or brand progress throughout the year. This is definitely a strategic thinking exercise idea from the Brainzooming R&D lab.

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BrainZooming

JUNE 8, 2016

It’s always incredible to work directly with Brainzooming blog readers in supporting their companies’ innovation strategy objectives. Last week, we presented a creative and strategic thinking workshop for a Brainzooming reader who leads the national sales division of a global industrial manufacturer. We integrated the Brainzooming strategic thinking workshop into their annual sales meeting. 13 Unexpected Benefits of a Strategic Thinking Workshop.

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BrainZooming

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

Late at night while reading the daily mass readings for the next day and thinking about how one can better understand oneself, I started writing. This list of strategic thinking questions emerged. Strategic thinking questions aren’t only for businesses and organizations. Individuals can also strategic thinking questions to more thoroughly explore what’s important, where they are headed, and how consistently their actions support their goals.

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