The Strategic Thinker Pillows

Games on a train.

'If I had to use one word to describe our strategy.'

The Department of Really Stupid Ideas: 'Most people think they just appear out of thin air! But the truth is, there's a great deal of very hard work involved!'

'And were there a point to your proposal, Henderson - What would it be?'

'Williams, we're not used to receiving such excellent ideas as these, so we'd like to tone them down a bit.'

The Businessmen Have to Make Decisions from Many Options

"Stock options for your thoughts."

"Yeah, but that one's a little bit hard to reach."

'Which 'win' is ours? Because the one on the left looks bigger.'

"I don't like getting bogged down in details. I'm more of a big-picture guy."

'It has come to my attention that we need to hedge against our five-year plan.'

Nothing Succeeds Like Confidence.

"Be patient. He'll have to visit the water cooler sooner or later."

"The trend in tough economic times is to put off everything that doesn't require immediate action ? as this chart shows."

'Smith, we need more creativity. You have to learn to think outside the box.'

"Any questions?"

'Ah, Galagher, we made good use of your proposal.'

Employee won't think about work outside of box

'Now, keep in mind that these numbers are only as accurate as the fictitious data, ludicrous assumptions and wishful thinking they're based upon!'

'You think I'm crazy; I think you're crazy...finally some common ground!'

"Dammit, Johnson. You've got to start thinking outside of the box."

"...but the big question is, does the competition know that we don't know what we don't know?"

"We need a best practice swim lane to leverage our core competency, move the needle outside the box, and open the kimono while keeping our ducks in a row. Can anyone give me a sustainable solution to more vertical effectiveness without getting too granula

Empty box of ideas

"#Win!"

Eureka!

"We have an acronym!"

Bright idea

'I want you to paddle against the current.'

'I am willing to concede that the company has been underperforming of late...'

A presenter with a very complex chart to explain a business plan - 'And it's as simple as that!'

"Is it just a scary coincidence that the words 'changes' and 'unknown' both have 7 letters?"

"You're a genius, Shaw. This is an idea whose copyright has expired."

'Do you want to tell them their department is being downsized again, or should I?'

After a day long meeting, the decision, as usual, is made in the hallway.