Strategic Thinking for Leaders and Managers

What you'll learn
Distinguish strategy vs. tactics and make decisions that drive long-term value
Apply SWOT, PESTEL, and Porter's Five Forces to diagnose your environment and risks
Use VRIO, Ansoff, and portfolio tools to prioritize growth and resource allocation
Spot trends and apply the BANI lens to lead through volatility and uncertainty
Translate strategy into action with OKRs, Scorecards, and adaptive planning rhythms
Build strategic habits: inquiry, systems thinking, scenario planning, and reflection
Requirements
No prior experience is required
Description
Most leaders don't struggle because they lack effort - they struggle because they're stuck too close to the work.You're in back-to-back meetings. Teams are busy. Projects are moving. But priorities keep shifting, decisions feel reactive, and it's hard to explain why you're doing what you're doing - or what matters most next.That's where strategic thinking shows up as a real career advantage. Research summarized by Harvard Business Review highlights core "strategic leadership" skills that help leaders navigate uncertainty - like anticipating, challenging assumptions, interpreting signals, deciding, aligning, and learning. And in LinkedIn's 2025 Workplace Learning Report, leadership training is the most common career-development practice (71% of organizations offer it), with strategic thinking called out as a key capability leaders need - especially in modern, distributed work. This course is designed to help you build that capability as a practical, repeatable skill, not a vague "big picture" concept.In this course, you'll learn how to:Think strategically (not just tactically): make better decisions by separating signal from noise and focusing on what creates long-term valueUse proven strategy frameworks to analyze your environment and choose smarter priorities (SWOT, PESTEL, Porter's Five Forces, value chain, benchmarking)Evaluate growth and competitive options with advanced tools like Ansoff, GE-McKinsey, VRIO, Three Horizons, BCG, Blue Ocean, and moreSpot real-world trends shaping strategy - and apply the BANI lens (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, Incomprehensible), introduced by futurist Jamais Cascio, to lead through uncertainty (Medium)Turn strategy into execution with OKRs, Balanced Scorecards, adaptive planning, and measurement systems that keep teams aligned and agileLearn from real case studies (including Domino's digital turnaround and Indra Nooyi's "Performance with Purpose" at PepsiCo)This isn't a theory-heavy course. It's a toolkit for managers and leaders who want to stop "executing harder" and start leading with more clarity, focus, and strategic confidence, even when conditions change fast.
Who this course is for
New and aspiring managers who want to "zoom out" and lead beyond task execution
Mid-level managers leading teams, functions, or cross-functional initiatives
Senior leaders who need stronger strategic alignment and decision frameworks
Product, project, and program managers who must balance trade-offs and priorities
Operations, marketing, HR, finance, and customer leaders who influence strategy execution
Entrepreneurs and small-business leaders building strategy, focus, and scalable growth
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