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Greg Githens is the author of How to Think Strategically (2019). He is a recognized thought leader in designing and delivering strategic initiatives.-
Read these recent articles
- Unlocking Strategic Thinking for Business Success – A Summit for Leaders and High Performers (Free)
- The Skills Stack for Resilience
- Five tips for speaking truth to power
- Better Conversations Generate Better Strategy
- Insights Are the Secret Sauce of Strategy
- How a Strategic Decision Differs From a Tactical Decision
- Unlearning, learning, and a culture of strategic thinking
- How Mapping Can Improve Your Strategic Thinking
- How to Measure Business Acumen
- Strategy Execution as a Learning Process
- Why I favor a mental stance of disorder
- Critical Asking
- Transcending the Status Quo
- Connecting Strategy to Execution
- Complexity: Four Principles for Program Managers
- Use the PAVER Framework to Assure Strategic Commitments
- Strategic Experiments & Agile Responses
- Avoiding Four Pitfalls of Rapid Growth
- Operational Excellence or Strategic Excellence?
- Design Thinking: Five Landmarks for Strategic Initiatives
- Seven Must-Do’s for Better Strategy Execution
- Strategy as Problem Solving: An Example from a Large Technology Organization.
- Five Mental Anchors that Impede Your Strategic Initiative
- Five Must-Know Patterns of Disruption
- Beginners Guide: Competent Strategic Initiatives
- Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, & Ambiguity (VUCA)
- Four Recommendations for Effective Program Governance
- Six Strategic Thinking Skills: Developing the Proactiveness Habit
- What’s the #Strategy? Let Me Tell You a #Story
- Benefits of Being a Visible Expert
- Strategy is Not Long-Range Planning, Vision, Mission, or Values
- Five Ways to Involve Smart New Voices in the Strategy & Agile Innovation Conversation
- Is it Possible to Have a Perfect Strategy?
- Facilitating the Business Model Canvas: A Few Lessons Learned (Part 1)
- Designing Strategic Initiatives for Results: The Two Kinds of Coherence
- Perspective is More Powerful than Vision
- The Real Reason Strategy Implementation is Difficult (and the Solution to It)
Talk to the Expert
Need a strategic planning facilitator, implementation coach, neutral mediator, workshop, seminar, or hands-on program manager? Greg Githens provides coaching, workshops, hands-on, and more. Contact him at GregoryDGithens@cs.com or 419.424.1164Categories
- Ambiguity and Strong-Minded Thinking
- Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders
- Examples of Strategic Initiatives
- How to Improve Your Story Telling Chops
- Incremental Benefits Delivery
- Interpreting Strategy Documents
- Program & Portfolio Management
- Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives
- Strategy
- Strategy Coaching and Facilitation
- Strategy, Ambiguity, and Strong-Minded Thinking
- Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
- Transforming the Organization
- Uncategorized
- Useful Practices & Management Tools
Category Archives: Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
Strategic Initiatives Drive Growth and Innovation in the Travel Industry
Competitive industries – for example the travel industry – use strategic initiatives to create competitive advantage. Greg Githens explains that there are 5 important tasks for leaders of strategic initiatives to create growth through innovation: understanding the brand promise, understanding the voice of the customer, effectively leveraging business intelligence, establishing appropriate success metrics, and driving effective and fast decisions. One example is how Vancouver’s port made it easier for US citizens to clear customs for cruise ships. A second example is how Hilton is innovating in its design of hotel business lounges. A third example for Marriott hotel’s bedding initiative. Continue reading
Posted in Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives, Transforming the Organization
Tagged airline, brand promise, Business, business intelligence, Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, cruise line, cruise port, Decision making, fast decisions, Greg Githens, growth, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Worldwide, hotel operations, innovation, Management, Marriott, ncl, norwegian, Problem Solving, Strategic management, strategy execution, strategy formulation, success metric, Tourism, transformation, Travel, vision, voice of the customer
2 Comments
Strategic Initiative Case Study: Destination Disney
Destination Disney was a strategic initiative that deployed a customer relationship management solution that transformed the customer experience at Disney World from product centric to guest centric. Greg Githens points out that an important leadership lessons is using the customer experience as a driver for the strategic initiative. Continue reading
Posted in Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
Tagged business drivers, customer experience, Customer Relationship Management, delight, Disney, Goal, Greg Githens, program management, Strategic initiative, strategic project, strategy execution, transformation, vision, Walt Disney World
6 Comments
What are the Strategic Pillars that Support the Vision?
Strategic pillars and planks hold up the strategic vision. Describes examples of strategic initiatives at Google, Boy Scouts of America, Schibsted, GE, pet supplies retailer, and an approach for content marketing strategies. Continue reading
Posted in Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Interpreting Strategy Documents, Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives, Useful Practices & Management Tools
Tagged content marketing, document analysis, Goal, Greg Githens, program management, Strategic initiative, Strategic management, strategic planks, Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives, strategy execution, strategy formulation, vision
7 Comments
Six Leadership Traits
Academic research points to six things that characterize the leader of a strategic initiative. They foster alignment and create commitment. Also, interesting point that determined individuals make more of a difference than “organizational process.” Continue reading
Posted in Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, Program & Portfolio Management, Strategy Coaching and Facilitation, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives, Transforming the Organization
Tagged Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, Decision making, Problem Solving, strategic thinking, strategy execution, transformation
5 Comments
A Concise Guide to the Differences between Programs and Projects
Provides two valuable tables of distinctions between programs and projects, and 3 PMI Knowledge Areas that are unique to program management. All strategic initiatives are programs, but not all programs are strategic initiatives. This is the most popular page on the Leadings Strategic Initiatives blog. Continue reading
Posted in Program & Portfolio Management, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
Tagged A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, program management, Project, Project management, Project Management Institute, Project manager, Stakeholder management, Strategic initiative, Strategic management, strategic thinking, strategy execution
14 Comments
The Four Driving Questions for Success
You can increase your ability to build alignment and commitment for strategic initiatives by asking and answering what I call The Four Driving Questions, shown in this graphic. The order is important: first why, then who, then what and when. … Continue reading
Strategic Initiatives Case Study: Hospital and Health Care – Part 1
Describes 5 leadership lessons for strategic initiatives, arising from Duke Children’s Hospital 10 years of positive results from performance improvement initiatives. Continue reading
The V.I.P.E.R. Success Principles
Identifies 5 success factors for Dodge Viper new product launch, cleverly arranged in the VIPER acronym. Continue reading
Strategic Initiative Case Study: IBM’s Speed Team
The IBM Speed Teams strategic initiative shows 7 leadership lessons for identifying and driving strategic business transformation. Continue reading
Posted in Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
Tagged agile, change management, Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, empowerment, fast decisions, open innovation, Organizational Development, program management, resources, speed, Strategic initiative, transformation, vision
1 Comment
Strategic Initiative Case Study: How Google Will Save Newspapers from Extinction
Identifies 10 leadership success factors found in a Google strategic initiative to help newspapers adapt to changes in technology and in production and consumption of the news. Continue reading
Leading Strategic Initiatives 