Thinking Strategically Is Necessary

The city of New Orleans is encompassed by water-Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. The city sits an average of six feet below sea level and the city's security has always been guarded by one of the world's most complex levee systems.



On August 29, 2005 at 11:00 a.m., the unexpected ferocity of Hurricane Katrina came ashore near the Louisiana-Mississippi border. The storm's strongest winds peaked at around 125 miles an hour. Katrina's front-right quadrant, which contained its most powerful gusts and peak storm surge, slammed the coast line causing a major levee in New Orleans to fail and water to gush into the 17th Street Canal and the city to be immersed.



When questioned after Katrina hit New Orleans, Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, chief of engineers for the Army Corps answered, "It was fully recognized by officials that we had Category Three [hurricane] level of protection. As projections of Category Four and Five were made (for Katrina), officials began plans to evacuate the city. We were just caught by a storm whose intensity exceeded the protection that we had in place."



Did the City of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana, and the federal government have the ability to avoid this catastrophe? Not one of these groups thought strategically ahead to the future. No one planned for what would happen if a hurricane larger than category three hit the city or how it would effect the current levy system. But others were thinking about it. Joel K. Bourne, Jr. published an article in National Geographic in October of 2004 titled "Gone with the Water". His nearly prophetic doomsday hurricane scenario became reality almost a year later. Joel Bourne, strategic thinker, is a perfect example of someone ahead of the curve.



Had any of these groups truly thought strategically and used their strategic intelligence sources about the levee system, then they would have spent more time preparing for "the worst probable scenario." This means as a strategic thinker, you consider both the positive and negative outcomes that may come as you develop your strategic ideas. Try not to spend time thinking about the "worst possible scenario" because this opens up the process to anything, because "anything" is possible. Instead, try to focus on what is most probable. Probability means that there is a likelihood that it will happen and therefore it should be included in your strategic preparation.



Through in-depth research and analysis of Strategic Thinking, it is possible to go beyond the normal broad organizational, government or corporate strategy and bring Strategic Thinking to the individual level. Strategic Thinking entails the ability to describe scenarios that give an idea of the future. It entails constant attention and observation to the trends, patterns, and cycles that are going on around us continually and allow us to gather intelligence. Being vigilant, a person is able to make educated and reasonable predictions about the future. With this intelligence the individual can be ahead of the curve and chart a course to advance, improve, prepare or protect the individual or organization for future events. Once a course has been determined, the object is to then mobilize and sustain an effort to reach your target objective. Hurricane Katrina taught us all a powerful lesson of how essential it is to become more strategic and pro-active.



As seen by the Hurricane Katrina disaster, if you want to be a strategic thinker, you can not always hop on the bandwagon and do what everybody else is doing. It means being ready to take smart risks, even when it means foregoing instant payoffs for the long term benefits of a predicted event. If anyone had been willing to risk breaking from the popular opinion and calling for improved levees in New Orleans, billions of dollars would have been saved and thousands of people would still have homes.



While many people can be blamed for the failure of the levee system, the key now is to take a more pro-active and strategic approach to other obvious problems that exist.



In the case of to the future of Hurricanes, we are already seeing many projections. Forecasters predict the Eastcoast could suffer many years of of relentless pounding and that this previous year was only the beginning. So, while many agencies ought to be taking action, so should anyone who is included in this process.



Strategic Thinking is something %everyone% can and should be doing. Strategic Thinking is not reserved for a CEO, Corporate Executive Team, or high-level political leaders. Applied Strategic Thinking is about each person taking a more creative, pro-active, and intelligent approach to the future. An approach that will help the individual arrive to a strategic position that will bring success against the changing times and situations that they will face in the future.



As you are contemplating your future in family and other areas, you can be more forward thinking and do things today that will provide advantages in the future. These things will put you ahead of the competition.





Want to learn how to think out side the box? Go now to the CMOE homepage to get tips from top experts about strategic thinking. Whether you work in a large corporation or are hoping to learn about teamwork for small companies, they have coaching steps ready for you.