The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking

The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking

you get the necessary immersion and training to become great at pattern recognition. Another way to develop your ​pattern-​recognition ability is to work closely with “experts” in ​apprenticeship-​like relation ships. Find opportunities where you can observe and learn from the work of people who are great at pattern recognition and so absorb their ways of thinking. This requires more than observa tion, as you want to learn as much as possible about the internal thought processes of the expert. Of course, this means they must be willing to devote some time to discussing their thought pro cesses with you. Helpful questions to ask include: ■ What were the most important patterns or signals you perceived? ■ What connections did you make to previous situations or events you have experienced? ■ What, if anything, was novel about the situation or problem? ■ How confident are you in your conclusions? ■ To what extent will you continue to refine your thinking and adjust your approach? Additionally, it helps to intentionally cultivate your curiosity and cast a wide net for information sources. Psychologists have found that simply being curious spurs the urge to explore, dis cover and ​grow 12 – ​which is useful when you need to get into the finer details of the microenvironment, which you may otherwise overlook. Focus too on looking for trends. For example, you could look at news reports and research, or obtain information through net working, and focus on developing hypotheses about those trends.

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