Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance & conscientious stupidity. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nobody wants to follow a leader that doesn’t know where they are going or what they are doing. Descriptors of terrible ideas from well-intentioned leaders might include “half-baked”, “ill-conceived”, “harebrained”, “impractical”, “unrealistic”, “unworkable”, “foolish and “just plain stupid.” That’s when people are being nice.

Ignorance is the enemy of progress. When leaders are ignorant, they are missing the information they need to make wise choices. Worse, they are often unaware of what they do not know, (a side-effect of ignorance.)

The Sad Story of Robert Falcon Scott

The sad story of Robert Falcon Scott’s expedition to the South Pole illustrates how ignorance could, quite literally, ruin lives. Scott took 5 people on his expedition, though he only planned for four. Among his many mistakes, he purchased inferior equipment, brought poorly designed clothes, used ponies (which eventually had to be killed) instead of dogs to pull his sleds, and inadequately stocked his supply depots along the way. Although his team eventually made it to their destination, they never made it home. Scott’s last words, written in his journal, were, “We shall die like gentlemen. I think this will show that the Spirit of pluck and power to endure has not passed out of our race.” Despite what seemed to be obvious signs of their imminent demise, Scott kept assuming they would all make it home. He even added to the team’s difficult load by collecting geological samples along the way home to study later. Scott’s ignorance led he and his team to their death.

Contrast ignorance with knowledge. Proverbs 24:5 says, “A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength”. The simple fact is, knowledge empowers leaders to make wise choices. The more informed (less ignorant) leaders become, the more likely it is that businesses will prosper and succeed.

Conventional thinking (as opposed to strategic thinking) will get things done. It’s how business happens. It is an important part of organizational management. Once a policy, procedure or strategy has been determined, it should consistently be engaged by the team . . . most of the time.

When something is broken, conventional thinking encourages ignorance rather than knowledge. If it’s time to do something different, this form of thinking becomes a deterrent to organizational success. Conventional thinking doesn’t work when customers complain, employees are unhappy, guests stop attending, revenues go down or the organization is outgrowing its building. When results don’t measure up, return on investment is low or the organization’s values are compromised, conventional thinking won’t work. In the case of Robert Falcon Scott, when the team was getting frostbite, the ponies had to be put down, food was running out and morale was low, conventional thinking led to a terrible and abrupt end.

When change needs to happen, leaders should set conventional thinking (ignorance) aside and engage strategic thinking (knowledge). Strategic thinking starts when leaders gather the information they need to make wise choices. It includes asking (and answering) important questions, clarifying goals & objectives, determining resources and opportunities, challenging barriers and threats, brainstorming innovative ideas, and much more. These activities will empower leaders to make a decision, or series of decisions, which will add value to the organization and facilitate positive change. If Scott had engaged in strategic thinking before he left, he may have completed his journey successfully. If he had engaged it during his journey, he would have known to turn around long before the trek became life-threatening.

Five Benefits of Strategic Thinking

1. Strategic Thinking is Proactive

Great leaders would rather solve problems before they happen, rather than after. Strategic thinking identifies potential future threats and addresses barriers to progress BEFORE decisions are made. It gathers information and forecasts potential good or bad futures for that activity. For example, a college recruiter might develop a different recruitment plan based on research showing that the number of high school Juniors is considerably lower than previous years or by observing a trend that young adults are waiting longer to start college.

2. Strategic Thinking Prevents Mission Drift

Mission drift is when an organization’s activities slowly move away from its primary purpose. When strategic thinking is engaged properly, leaders ensure that new initiatives, systems, processes, products or services directly align with the organization’s mission. For example, a clothing store with a mission to “provide exceptional fashion to women around the world” may recognize the beginning of mission drift when a store manager adds men’s clothes or women’s perfume to the product list.

3. Strategic Thinking Stimulates Innovation

This form of thinking encourages creativity and inspires ‘out of the box’ ideas. It includes clarifying the organizations vision for the future and brainstorming new opportunities and resources previously overlooked. For example, a local church might consider partnering with a donut shop across the street to offer discounts to parishioners right after church on Sundays, encouraging the congregation to spend more time together rather than leave as soon as the service is over.

4. Strategic Thinking Strengthens Teams

When strategic thinking occurs within the context of teams, everybody wins. Team members will have greater motivation to see change initiatives succeed because they were part of the process and have personal ‘buy-in’ to the vision. For example, when a Salon owner invites her staff to discuss ways to increase customer satisfaction, the whole team wants to work hard, together, to see the resulting decisions succeed.

5. Strategic Thinking Inspires Excellence

Strategic thinking encourages regular evaluation, honest feedback and an atmosphere that learns from failure and embraces change. When leaders create a culture that encourages strategic thinking, it becomes integrated into the organizations daily activities, rather than being a random or one-time event. Consequently, the organization will methodically tend to lean toward outputting higher quality of goods or services; customer service will improve, sales will increase, team members will stay longer, etc. For example, over time a hotel front desk might elect to offer candy to children & breath mints to adults, renovate the desk so it’s easier to sign papers, change the music playing in the lobby and more.

The math is simple. If knowledge empowers leaders to make wise choices and strategic thinking stimulates knowledge, then strategic thinking empowers leaders to make wise choices. Comparably, the old adage, “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got” remains true. Ignorance is a fan of conventional thinking because it only requires individuals to continue to do the same thing.

Organizational ignorance begins with bliss, but eventually turns into misery. Organizational wisdom begins with strategic thinking, but eventually turns into victory.