Description

Strategic thinking is a powerful and invaluable skill, one that leads to greater chances of success in whatever professional and personal projects you’re involved in. It involves setting goals, developing long-range plans, anticipating the unexpected, analyzing your environment, and even cooperating with your competitors.The only catch: Strategic thinking doesn’t come naturally. Because most of us are static thinkers who tend to make decisions only for today, strategic thinking skills have to be learned, cultivated, practiced, and applied.Mastering the art and craft of strategic thinking can help you plan more effectively with an eye for avoiding unpleasant surprises; impose a stronger sense of order on chaotic, disorderly projects and scenarios; make savvier decisions and outsmart your competitors with greater confidence and ease; and increase your productivity and satisfaction at work and at home.And while the subject owes much to ideas and techniques developed in military situations, its applications go far beyond. With Strategic Thinking Skills, you’ll get a simple and comprehensive guide to the skills, tactics, techniques, tools, case studies, and lessons behind this all-important process. Business consultant, former military intelligence officer, and award-winning Professor Stanley K. Ridgley of Drexel University has crafted these 24 lectures as an accessible way to engage with thinking that will help you think—and act—more strategically in business and in your own life, whether you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or you’re preparing to embark on a new career path.Explore the Strategic Thinker’s Tool BoxStrategic thinking is a way of looking at the world with engagement and purpose in mind, and with a more solid understanding of the complex systems and environments of which you’re a part. But what makes forsuccessfulstrategic thinking?“Successful strategy,” Professor Ridgley notes at the start of these lectures, “is dynamic, adaptive, and opportunistic. It depends upon the swift, bold, and crisp execution of tactics.”Strategic Thinking Skills is a veritable tool box for those interesting in learning (or strengthening) their approach to strategy. These lectures are loosely organized around several key topics central to effective strategic thinking. Here are just three:About Your ProfessorDr. Stanley K. Ridgley is Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. He holds an M.A. in Political Science from Duke University, an M.B.A. in International Business from Temple University, and a Ph.D. in International Relations from Duke.Professor Ridgley teaches courses on global business policies, international business fundamentals, competitive intelligence, strategic management and entrepreneurship, and advanced strategic business presentations. While teaching at Temple University, he received the Musser Award for Excellence in Leadership.Professor Ridgley has lectured and presented widely in the United States, Russia, India, France, Colombia, and Singapore. A presentation coach for teams of business students, he coached the winning team for Target Corporation’s annual Business Case Competition at Temple University in 2009 and 2010 and coached an Indian M.B.A. team’s winning presentation in the All India Management Association’s 2009 National Competition for Young Managers. His book, The Complete Guide to Business School Presentations: What your professors don’t tell you…what you absolutely must know will be published in 2012 by Anthem Press.Professor Ridgley is a former military intelligence officer for the U.S. Army and served five years in West Berlin and near the Czech-German border, where he received the George S. Patton Award for Leadership from the 7th Army NCO Academy.