The Strategic Thinking Institute

The mission of the Strategic Thinking Institute is to provide managers with the knowledge, skills, and tools to develop their strategic capabilities in order to set direction, grow profits, and achieve competitive advantage. Several studies have shown that the number one cause of business failure is bad strategy. Couple that with the fact that only 23 percent of managers are strong at strategic thinking and it makes for a dangerous combination. Great strategy doesn’t magically appear from an Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint slide deck. Great strategy is created by great strategists. Are your managers great strategists?

Founder and CEO Rich Horwath was inspired to start the Strategic Thinking Institute by a single question a manager asked him during a break at a strategic planning retreat twenty years ago: “I had my performance review and my boss said I’m too tactical. How can I become more strategic?” He realized there wasn’t a roadmap to help leaders move from tactical to strategic. So, he created one. 

The Strategic Thinking Institute has created more than 200 resources to help manages at all levels develop their strategy skills. These resources focused on strategic thinking and planning include books, workbooks, online learning management systems, assessments, journals, white papers, videos, podcasts, infographics, training cards, and much more. 

If your managers “do strategy” once a year, then they will not be very good at it. Like playing tennis or the piano, strategic thinking is a skill that must be practiced on a regular basis to become a strength. Based on the seven books written by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author on strategy, STI has engaged with world-class companies including FedEx, Intel, Bank of America, and ESPN to create enterprise-wide capabilities in strategic thinking and planning. Capability development is customized to the needs of each organization, and can take the form of live workshops, virtual online gamified training, facilitation of strategy sessions, and strategic coaching of senior executives. 

CEO Rich Horwath is a former Chief Strategy Officer and professor of strategy, enabling him to bring both real-world experience and practical expertise to helping companies create an enterprise-wide capability in strategic thinking and planning. He has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX TV, and his work has been featured in publications including Fast Company, Forbes, and the Harvard Business Review. Rich has been described by Chief Executive Magazine as, “The world’s foremost expert on strategic thinking.”