How to Think and Lead Strategically Every Day
- Mamie Kanfer Stewart
- Jun 10
- 4 min read
For managers striving to lead with intention and impact, understanding what strategy truly means (and how to do it well) is critical. Fortunately, Rich Horwath, CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute and author of Strategic: The Skill to Set Direction, Create Advantage, and Achieve Executive Excellence, offers a refreshingly simple and powerful approach to thinking and acting strategically.
Rich shares insights that every manager, regardless of level, can use to transform how they approach strategy.
What Strategy Really Means (and Why It Matters to You)
Strategy is often confused with goals, tactics, or buzzwords like “strategic objectives.” According to Rich, the simplest and most accurate definition is this: strategy is how you plan to achieve your goal. The keyword? How.
While goals tell you what you’re aiming for and tactics detail the specific actions you’ll take, strategy is the overarching approach that guides your direction. Rich compares strategy to a highway; it’s the path that guides you toward your destination. The vehicles you use (your tactics) may vary, but the strategy is the unifying route that keeps you on course.
This distinction isn’t just semantics. When a project isn’t going as planned, Rich recommends first changing tactics rather than adjusting the strategy or goal.
Strategy Isn’t Just for the C-Suite
A common misconception is that strategy is something reserved for executives or corporate strategists. According to Rich, every manager is responsible for how they use their team’s resources: time, talent, budget, and expertise. Being strategic means deciding how to best allocate those resources to deliver value, whether you're leading a small project team or a department of hundreds.
Importantly, your strategy should align with broader organizational goals, but it should also reflect your unique context: your people, your clients, and your challenges. Strategy isn’t top-down. It’s something every manager should own.
The 3 As of Strategic Thinking: Acumen, Allocation, Action
1. Acumen: Insight That Leads to Value
Acumen is the foundation of strategy. It’s about identifying new insights, those “aha” moments that lead to new value for your team or customers.
Rich defines insight as “a learning that leads to new value.” Whether it’s a shift in customer needs, a pattern in team performance, or an operational inefficiency, strategic managers constantly seek these insights and ask, What can we do differently to create more value?
Importantly, strategic insight isn’t just about collecting data. It’s about taking time to reflect, connect the dots, and generate ideas that can move the business forward. Rich recommends keeping a running list of insights from meetings or conversations; let them incubate and evolve into action.
2. Allocation: Choosing What to Resource
Once you have a compelling insight, the next step is resource allocation: determining how to best use your team’s time, energy, and budget to bring that insight to life.
Rich notes that this should be an ongoing and dynamic practice. Instead of budgeting and assigning roles once per year, managers should adjust roles and budget on a regular basis in ways that optimize for the desired outcome.
3. Action: Deciding on Priorities
The third A, action, is about execution. But not just any action, strategic action. That means narrowing your focus to a handful of high-impact initiatives rather than scattering your efforts across dozens of low-value tasks.
Here’s where tough decisions come in. As Rich explains, strategy requires trade-offs. Saying yes to something meaningful often means saying no to something else. And yet, many managers avoid this. Instead, they pile on new priorities without removing old ones, overwhelming their teams and diluting impact.
Making Strategic Thinking a Daily Habit
You don’t need a formal planning session to be strategic. Rich encourages managers to build small habits that support strategic thinking every day. Here are a few to consider:
Start with value: Ask yourself, “What new value can I or my team deliver today?”
Use the rule of touch: if you can touch it, it’s a tactic. If you can’t, it’s likely a strategy.
Revisit goals regularly: Keep your goals visible and check your progress monthly.
Make trade-offs: When something new comes up, ask, “What can we take off our plate to make space for this?”
Keep an insight journal: document ideas and observations that could lead to innovation.
You Can Lead Strategically Every Day
Rich reminds us that strategy isn’t a singular event. Managers must regularly revisit strategy, not just annually, but quarterly or even monthly. He calls it a strategy tune-up: a focused check-in on whether your current actions are moving you closer to your goal, and if not, what needs adjusting.
Similarly, strategic thinking isn’t a skill reserved for the few. It’s a leadership muscle every manager can and should develop. It’s about being intentional with your resources, focused on value, and willing to make the tough calls that lead to growth.
Listen to the entire episode HERE to learn more about how to be strategic in your daily work.
Keep up with Rich Horwarth
Book Giveaway - 5 copies of Strategic AND Free White Paper on Delegation
Rich is giving away five copies of his book STRATEGIC: The Skill to Set Direction, Create Advantage, and Achieve Executive Excellence, which Inc. Magazine described as “A top 4 must-read business book to kick off the year.” In the book, Rich shares practical tools, tips, and techniques he’s developed over two decades that can help you think, plan, and act strategically in every area of your business.
And members of Podcast+ can download Rich’s White Paper: Lead at Your Level, which addresses the importance of delegation to a leader’s success. In the article, Rich shares the four factors that are crucial to effective delegation and the ability to unlock dozens of hours of extra time each year.
To get this bonus and many other member benefits, become a member of The Modern Manager Podcast+ Community.
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