Winning the Long Game: How Strategic Leaders Shape the Future

Are you winning the battle but losing the war?

Every leader has to deliver the goods—make budget, meet deadlines, and deftly manage people—to provide the inspirational fuel that keeps their business running day-in and day-out.

But therein lies the danger of winning today’s battle and losing the war—that is the long game of creating sustainable value in a volatile, uncertain world that is becoming ever-more complex and ambiguous.

The number one business challenge—is winning the long game by being more strategic; developing the skills to look outside the four walls of the organization and see the world from the future back.

Steven Krupp and Paul J. H. Schoemaker bridge the gap between what many see as the separate domains of strategy and leadership to show how to develop the discipline of strategic leadership in a world of growing uncertainty.

Pragmatic to the core, Winning the Long Game creates vivid insights into the discipline of strategic leadership by applying it systemically through personal portraits of successful business leaders. The book profiles Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Sara Blakely, as well as world-renowned figures like Pope Francis, Oprah Winfrey, and Nelson Mandela. What makes these strategic leaders successful is highlighted by contrasting them with others who are either mediocre or outright failures.

Winning the Long Game is the must-have playbook for every leader and for any manager seeking to be become more strategic in today’s topsy-turvy world.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Elephants And Black Swans: The Discipline To Anticipate
Chapter 2 What Are You Afraid Of? The Discipline To Challenge
Chapter 3 The Dog That Did Not Bark: The Discipline To Interpret
Chapter 4 Sailing Into The Storm: The Discipline To Decide
Chapter 5 This Matrix Is Killing Me: The Discipline To Align
Chapter 6 My Gift Was Not Knowing: The Discipline To Learn
Chapter 7 Two Visionary Leaders: Mandela And Barnes—Combining It All