BE MORE STRATEGIC (AND LESS ANNOYING)
A (kind of funny) leadership novella by Sanja Hill
This is for those who want to build or refresh their strategic skills…and who prefer to learn through story.
The story follows the journeys of four fictional leaders across twelve chapters. The chapters are connected and sequential so don’t be tempted to skip around. I will know! (Just kidding—I won’t. But, seriously, don’t skip around.)
It's free and available right here. No download, email or extra steps are required. Simply start reading whenever you're ready.
There are also five accompanying articles if you'd like the underlying concepts explained more directly, plus two tools to help you work out which character you're most like and where you're at with your own strategic thinking. All the links are in the table of contents below.
(And for my fellow language nerds: this is a work of fiction, so I took some creative liberties with grammar and punctuation. Though I still welcome your suggested corrections.)
Meet the Cast
In the story, you’ll meet:
Claire the Control Freak
Rob the Rebel
Quinn the Quiet Achiever
Gene the Chaotic Genius.
They’re four leaders stumbling through a mandatory strategic skills course, wrestling with self-assessments and confronting uncomfortable truths about how they think and work.
You may recognise yourself (or a colleague) in at least one of them. I know I can relate to all four: how Claire tries to de-risk everything, how Rob wants to do his own thing, how Quinn overinforms and how easily Gene gets distracted.
But don’t take their descriptions too seriously. They’re just fun archetypes drawn from behaviours we’ve all likely encountered in the workplace. I hope they serve as entertaining examples that will help you more easily absorb the underlying concepts.
Table of contents
The novella
Start with Chapter 1 and work your way through, or use the list below to navigate if you've already begun.
The name in the chapter title indicates the point of view you’re reading from.
Chapter 1: Claire (the Control Freak) has everything under control
Chapter 2: Rob (the Rebel) is fighting the system
Chapter 3: Quinn (the Quiet Achiever) is perfectly comfortable
Chapter 4: Gene (the Chaotic Genius) is thriving in mess
Chapter 5: Claire is loosening her grip
Chapter 6: Rob is picking his battles
Chapter 7: Quinn is stepping into discomfort
Chapter 8: Gene is taming the chaos
Chapter 9: Claire is sharing the reins
Chapter 10: Rob is finding common ground
Chapter 11: Quinn is (almost) visible
Chapter 12: Gene is kind of organised
The articles
Four myths about strategic thinking | ‘Claire the Control Freak’ character analysis
Three dimensions of strategic thinking | ‘Rob the Rebel’ character analysis
Working more strategically: Strategic focus planning | ‘Quinn the Quiet Achiever’ character analysis
Leading more strategically | Working with varied stakeholders