Strategy = Ordered Thinking

Of all the ways I’ve found to think of effective leadership communication, the most comprehensive approach to being truly strategic is to be found in Warfighting: United States Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication No. 1. And that book isn’t even about communication. But it also isn’t really about war. Rather, it’s about clear thinking and effective execution.

Strategy is a process of ordered thinking: of thinking in the right order. Ineffective leadership communication begins with “What do we want to say?” That’s both selfish and self-indulgent. And it’s unlikely to succeed. And it’s in the wrong order: It starts where thinking should ultimately end up. And it skips the essential questions that make sense of the situation, establish goals, identify audiences and attitudes, and prescribe a course of action to influence those attitudes.