The One-Hour Strategy follows Martin, the new sales team lead at Waters & Flows, which attracted him because of their unique way of doing strategy. We shadow Martin as he onboards with his new colleagues, who walk him through each aspect of their One-Hour Strategy, answering his questions and addressing his reservations. Along the way, Martin learns:

– Why employees at every level in the firm should be involved in strategy

– How strategic competence creates company agility, which is crucial in disruptive times

– How this new approach closes the strategy-versus-execution gap

Martin’s story introduces an easy but valuable tool for integrating strategic planning into your organization’s culture. Martin’s notes on key takeaways distill the information he learns, and each chapter includes self-evaluation questions to help you consider how this new way of thinking could be integrated at your company. If you’re dissatisfied with the traditional way of doing strategy or your company seems stuck in a rut of strategizing that never turns into action, this book offers a solution.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeroen Kraaijenbrink is an accomplished strategy educator, speaker, writer, and consultant with over two decades of experience, extending from academia through modern business and industry. He empowers people and organizations to discover, formulate, and execute their future plans by providing innovative tools for expansive and forward-thinking strategy making and both personal and organizational development. In doing so, he enables individuals to realize their greatest ambitions and organizations to effectively achieve their business goals and mission through ongoing, effective strategy techniques.

Drawing from cognitive psychology, humanism, martial arts, Saint Benedict, and an extraordinarily wide range of other sources, he has written innumerable articles on strategy, sustainability, and personal leadership, as well as authored five books: The One-Hour Strategy, Strategy Consulting, No More Bananas, Unlearning Strategy, and The Strategy Handbook. He is an active contributor to Forbes, where he writes about strategy, leadership, and how to embrace and harness the complexity and uncertainty—and the opportunities—of the global marketplace that the world has become.

He has a PhD in industrial management, teaches strategy at the University of Amsterdam Business School, and has helped significantly improve the strategic planning of many midsize and larger companies across the engineering, manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services industries.