How to Think Strategically at Work

Here’s why sharing strategic thinking “frameworks” without context is useless (and what actually works). I see posts like this infographic daily on social media—pretty boxes, buzzwords… and zero actionable insight. The brutal truth? Posting frameworks without explanation is career virtue signaling at its worst. Strategic Thinking Is actually critical right now: ✅ 57% of business leaders say strategic thinking is the #1 soft skill their workforce desperately needs (Springboard 2024) ✅ The World Economic Forum 2025 Future of Jobs Report confirms analytical thinking remains the TOP core skill demanded by 7 out of 10 companies globally. While everyone’s obsessing over AI and technical skills, the most successful professionals are the ones who can think strategically about those tools. Here are 5 ways I coach my clients to actually develop their strategic thinking which you can adopt right now: 1. Master the “So What?” Question After every data point, analysis, or meeting, → Ask, “So what does this mean for our goals?” Force yourself to connect dots, not just collect them. 2. Practice Scenario Planning Weekly Pick one business decision facing your team. Map out 3 potential outcomes and their implications. This builds your strategic foresight muscle. 3. Reverse-Engineer Successful Strategies Study companies that solved problems similar to yours. What assumptions did they challenge? What patterns can you extract? 4. Create a “Strategic Time Block” Block 2 hours weekly for big-picture thinking. No emails, no tactical work. Just strategic reflection and planning. Non-negotiable. 5. Teach Your Thinking Process Explain your strategic reasoning to others. If you can’t teach it clearly, you haven’t thought it through deeply enough. Strategic thinking isn’t about memorizing frameworks from infographics on Pinterest. It’s about developing the mental discipline to see patterns, challenge assumptions, and connect seemingly unrelated pieces. The professionals who master this will be irreplaceable. The ones who share pretty frameworks will be forgotten. Which one are you? Coaching can help; let's chat. | Joshua Miller #executivecoaching #professionaldevelopment #careeradvice #getahead

During a high stress moment of frustration, a CEO harshly told one of my students: “I need you to be a thought partner, not another task manager!” She swallowed the lump in her throat as she exited the video call, but... she knew he had a point. 😕 She’d been burning herself out checking boxes, clearing tasks, reacting to requests. And, in doing so, she was unintentionally making herself smaller (and less effective). The difference between a support person (tactical/ a task manager) and a Chief of Staff (strategic/ a thought partner) is about 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼. ➡️ So she made a shift, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦, and started operating like  a true thought partner. Here’s how that’s done: 1️⃣ 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Instead of asking, “What do you need me to do?” she started showing up with recommendations (bringing solutions to the agenda, not just problems) 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗗𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗬:  when you become aware of or identify a problem or issue that needs a decision, 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲, 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝟮-𝟯 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲. 2️⃣ 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀. When her CEO asked for updates, she didn’t just list what she’d done, she explained how it moved their org-wide goals forward. 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗗𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗬:  Before every task or project you work on, ask yourself, “How is what I’m doing helping us win long-term?” Then document that so you have proof of your impact. 3️⃣ She built the habit of challenging upward. This one felt scary at first, but she learned to respectfully push back and ask her CEO tough questions like: 🤔 “What tradeoff are we making if we choose this option?” 🤔 “How will this decision impact the team next quarter?” 🤔 “Is this the best use of your time right now?” Her boss…? He loved it!! 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳. It will work for you too. Start thinking like the person in the room who’s helping make the decisions, not just carry them out.

7 words of the best advice if you keep hearing "Be more strategic" Strategy isn’t tasks. It’s visibility of thought. A few years ago, I hit a wall: My feedback always came back to strategy. Even when my results were top-tier. “You’re doing great. Just think more strategically.” Meanwhile, peers with less execution power got tapped for bigger roles. And every time I’d ask: “Can you clarify what being strategic looks like here?” They’d say some version of: “Take a broader view. Think beyond your lane.” Even though I’d already been connecting dots across functions. If you’ve heard that same vague feedback... You know how frustrating it feels. When you’re delivering (amazing) results But still not seen as “ready.” Here’s what I had to learn: Strategic isn’t about adding more to your plate. It’s about making your thinking visible. If your work only lives in execution—no one connects it to leadership. This is when you stall: “You’re excellent at delivery, but we need someone thinking a few levels up.” Heard that before? So what now? Follow this shift: Strategy isn’t said. It’s shown daily. When I coach mid-career pros into Director and VP roles, this is the pivot we make: We stop asking: “Why don’t they see me as strategic?” And we start asking: “How do I make my strategic thinking visible?" Two examples: Example 1 They say: “We need to think bigger across departments.” Instead of nodding, try: “I’ve noticed X trend across two teams. What if we built a joint approach to solve that? I’d be happy to map it out and lead coordination.” Now you're showing strategic thinking. Not asking for permission. Example 2 They say: “We’re looking for someone who sees the big picture.” Instead of going quiet, try: “I’ve been mapping out how X impacts Y across teams. I’d love to share a few scalable plays I see from here.” Too bold? Maybe. Now you’re not waiting to be called strategic. You’re proving it in real time. That’s the shift. If you’re waiting for someone to label you strategic, you’re behind. If you’re showing it, you're already being measured that way. Big difference. Bottom line: “Be more strategic” is often code for “show us the thinking we haven’t seen yet.” If that landed for you... Join my free masterclass to unlock your next promotion: https://lnkd.in/grCCCHp3 I'll show you how to shift your strategy from being the best-kept secret to the obvious next leader.

Senior women think 'being strategic' means speaking up more. Here's what it actually means. I coached a director who was frustrated about being overlooked twice for promotions. She said, I did everything right: - I share my ideas in every meeting - I'm always contributing to strategy discussions. That's all good but these are all operational solutions and that's the issue. Strategic thinking isn't about speaking up more. It involves 3 key shifts: 1. Systems thinking > task thinking. Strategic minds think about the ripple effects, while operational minds focus on executing 1 thing efficiently. 2. Pattern recognition > problem-solving. A strategic thinker can spot trends, connections, and consequences before they become obvious. 3. Outcome focus > activity focus. Strategic thinking cares about long-term goals while operational thinking focuses on day-to-day things. Most senior women are great at.. - execution - process optimization - and getting things done But to advance to VP roles, you require both operational and strategic thinking. To help my client move forward, I gave her 3 frameworks: The "So What?" Framework For every idea you share, focus on its impact on the business, competitive position, and long-term implications. At Director level, you can make a different by framing ideas in a way that connects to revenue, risk, or competitive positioning. The 10-10-10 Rule: Before making recommendations, think about the impact of your decisions in 3 timeframes: 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years. This helps you balance immediate needs with long-term goals. I call this executive horizon scanning. The Pattern Recognition Framework: Rather than just solving the immediate issue, look for patterns and trends that connect to broader outcomes. This way you can anticipate future developments and make more informed decisions. With practice, she added strategic thinking as a skill on top of operational excellence. That same year she bagged her dream VP role because she was seen as someone who can handle future development. So, tell me.  Have you tried being a strategic thinker at work? #strategic #thinker #promotion #mindset #executive