I don't consider myself a strategist even though I like strategy games. I can make something out of nothing… and I do like mixing and matching disciplines. You can learn a lot by mixing biology with history, etc.

But, my greatest strength is my ability to write. It is my way of understand what I am thinking.

So I agree. There are very few strategists in the world. We only need a few.

I do my Account Manager job during the day and devlop strategies for the company at night. This takes me about 100 hours of work a week.

I decided to do it this way because the Account Manager (AM) is the heart and soul of the company. AM's are the people who service the customers who buy our product.

To be a true strategist, I must know exactly how the job should be done to develop the most optimized position and tools with the best results. Manuels, Job Duties, Software Programs, Hardware, CRM Apps, Company Branding Image, Etc… must be communicated clearly, fastly, and organized for the experience to be profitable for the company and customer ascentric and satifying to the customer and AM.
The AM must be rewarded by incentive to perform at the top level expected by the Strategist.

From there, then you have to determine on how to manage multiple account managers. That takes stratigies and organization……the whole process starts over and over again.

Then, if your a growth strategist, you have to look at the companeis financials, marketing, sales, manufacturing, image, branding, etc…and make all these things work together.

I see so many things that need to be done, 100 hours a week is not near enough. I have thousands upon thousands of hours worth of stuff to do and if I had a little more money to work with, I would be able to perform my job faster which would mean faster growth.

The key to make this work is have the proper incentives in place, clear comunication, and set standards.

"Quality is not controlled by the worker, Quality is controlled by Management"

- Strategy is not "creating something new from nothing". That is the definition of innovation, not strategy. A successful business strategy could be to do absolutely nothing different than last year.

- That strategy is limited to one personality type. Strategic thinking is a learned skill. Sure some personality types may adopt it more naturally, but most people can learn it.

- That strategy should be the territory of only the few. This is a frankly patronizing view similar to the now-mothballed theory of "charismatic leadership". We now know that leadership happens on all levels and among all types of people. Strategy is the same.

I am very creative and very conceptual. I have degrees and academic teaching experience to back this. But in the corporate world, if I try and speak my mind, I'm told I'm rocking the boat or that I "backtalk" too much. I have no use for hierarchy when I know collaboration will get the job done more effectively!

But I keep getting stuck in jobs executing other people's flawed strategies! Do I need to go back to academia?

She suggested I do a "perception audit" and see what potential clients think about me. I haven't yet, but I think it's good advice to figure out if I really am perceived as the "senior strategist" I believe myself to be.

Being a strategist is one thing, but do others see you that way too? Have you proven yourself?