History

Strategy Arts was founded in 2004 by Scott Wheeler. The original concept grew out of Scott’s experiences as a participant in and leader of strategic planning in multiple international businesses. We began by considering Scott’s planning experiences together with those of other business leaders within the Strategy Arts network (those that did and those that didn't work). As we did this we found ourselves digging deeper into what worked and why in the many different planning approaches we had experienced.

We identified several important factors that we all knew, but didn't always practice as managers, that were essential to successful planning and execution.

		Strategy is a continuous process that requires the ongoing ability to make planned and unplanned decisions that are aligned with long term goals.
		An organization's current and planned value propositions should always provide the context for evaluating alternatives and making decisions.
		Due to the continuous nature of strategy, effective organizations need the ability and processes that support them in “doing it themselves”.
		The knowledge and experience of an organization’s people is the most important and under utilized source of information to support strategic decision making.
		People and organizations are most engaged in and committed to decisions and ideas that they have a stake in creating.
		When there is wide understanding of the strategy an organization is able to respond consistently in support of it.

Together these factors combine the elements of analysis and process, with the more human based management skills of leadership, communication, and engagement.

In creating the Strategy Arts planning programs we set out to create a product that integrated the analytic and human element of management via a group process that engages leadership teams and their organizations. We were determined to develop a product that would support clients the way we would have wanted it. A planning process that was approachable, helped us do it ourselves but challenged us in our thinking, kept us moving from planning through to execution, helped us engage our organizations as more effective leaders, and gave us access to outside expertise when we needed it.

The result of this process for us are the programs, people, and network that are Strategy Arts. We invite you to learn more!