Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"This book will help readers tackle the really important challenges they face both in developing strategies and putting them into action" Consulting Magazine

Strategy is about shaping the future. Thinking strategically is what separates good managers and great leaders. Learn the fundamentals about how to create winning strategy and lead your team to deliver it. From understanding what strategy can do for you, through to creating a strategy and engaging others with strategy, this book offers practical guidance and expert tips. It is peppered with punchy, memorable examples from real leaders winning (and losing) with real world strategies.

Strategy is simple, but simple is complex. The Third Edition includes updated examples and a new set of practical future-focused tools including the Quick Strategy Canvas and the Big Picture. These will help any manager, regardless of experience, to better develop their inner strategic potential for outstanding results in our ever changing world.

People who wanted to shape the future have created our present. With over 7 billion fellow humans sharing our planet, things are not going to slow down or get simpler. At the heart of strategy is the mind of the individual strategist, and by nurturing your ability to see the big picture you can get better at adapting successfully. You can get better at shaping events to get to somewhere better. Using available means to desirable ends.

Expectations keep shifting, new competitors keep appearing, rules change and then change again, technologies disrupt and then politics shake up the nature of the landscape in which you compete, work and live. Being more strategic is about our-thinking both competitors and limitations.

Strategy is not a solo sport. The Strategy Book focuses on how you can create powerful strategies with other people to deliver success together in a competitive world. It answers the following questions:

· What do we know about strategy?

· What can creative strategy do for you?

· How can you create winning strategies?

· How to think and act strategically?

· How can you engage people with strategy?

· How do you avoid pitfalls and screw-ups?

It can be read as a whole or you can dip into the easy-to-read, bite-size sections as and when you need to deal with a particular issue. The structure has been specially designed to make sections quick and easy to use - you'll find yourself referring to them again and again.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• About the author (p. xvii)
• First words (p. xix)
• Introduction (p. xx)
• What is strategy? (p. xxiii)
• Part 1 Your strategic self (p. 3)
• Shaping the future (p. 5)
• Thinking before you plan (p. 11)
• Becoming a strategic thinker (p. 17)
• Selling your strategy (p. 22)
• Part 2 Thinking like a strategist (p. 29)
• Reacting is as important as planning (p. 31)
• Taking risks (jump your uncertainty gaps) (p. 36)
• Looking over your shoulder (p. 43)
• Knowing where the grass (really) is greener (p. 48)
• Part 3 Creating your strategy (p. 55)
• Seeing the big picture (p. 57)
• Finding position, intention and direction (p. 65)
• Looking for advantages (p. 71)
• Making strategic decisions and choices (p. 79)
• Adapting to your competitive environment (p. 85)
• Part 4 Winning with strategy (p. 93)
• Winning strategy games (p. 95)
• Creating new markets (p. 101)
• Getting ahead of your strategic group (p. 109)
• Growing your business (again and again) (p. 117)
• Going global without going broke (p. 125)
• Knowing what you can do best (p. 131)
• Part 5 Making your strategy work (p. 137)
• Managing your strategy process (p. 139)
• Meetings for strategic minds (p. 146)
• Managing change, making strategy work (p. 154)
• Understanding what can go wrong (p. 160)
• Saving your company from failure (p. 166)
• Part 6 The strategy book toolkit (p. 175)
• The basic (powerful) strategy questions (p. 176)
• Quick start strategy (p. 178)
• SWOT analysis (p. 182)
• Porter's 5 forces of competition (p. 184)
• Porter's generic strategies (p. 186)
• Burgelman's strategy dynamics model (p. 188)
• Porter's value chain and value system (p. 190)
• Core competencies and resource-based view (p. 192)
• Nonaka and Takeuchi's knowledge spiral (p. 194)
• Peters, Athos and Waterman's 7-S framework (p. 196)
• Scenario planning (p. 198)
• Ansoff's growth grid (p. 200)
• The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) growth share matrix (p. 202)
• Kim and Mauborgne's four actions (p. 204)
• Greiner's growth (and crisis) model (p. 206)
• De Wit and Meyer's strategy tensions (p. 208)
• Cummings and Wilson: orientation and animation (p. 210)
• Lewin's force field analysis (p. 212)
• Kotter's eight phases of change (p. 214)
• Kaplan and Norton's balanced scorecard (p. 216)
• Hrebiniak's model of strategy execution (p. 218)
• Hammer and Champy's business process redesign (p. 220)
• Michaud and Thoenig's strategic orientation (p. 222)
• Burgelman and Grove's strategy bet model (p. 224)
• Argyris's double and single loop learning (p. 226)
• Mintzberg's deliberate and emergent strategy (p. 228)
• Johnson's white space model (p. 230)
• Prahalad and Hart's bottom of the pyramid (p. 232)
• Stacey's strategy from complexity (p. 234)
• Hart's sustainability value framework (p. 236)
• House of strategy (p. 238)
• Innovation + strategy = adaptability (p. 240)
• Final words (p. 242)
• Further reading (p. 244)
• Publisher's acknowledgements (p. 249)
• Index (p. 253)