Strategic Thinking/Mental Toughness

1. Strategic Thinking/Mental Toughness Presented by Eli Harari The Thinking Coach www.thethinkingcoach.com elih@thethinkingcoach.com

2. Meet The Thinking Coach Eli Harari The Thinking Coach entity has been founded by Eli Harari who is an accomplished motivator and training specialist in thinking skills dynamics. The Thinking Coach is committed to training and coaching people from all walks of life to help them fulfill their professional goals and potential. Eli’s field of expertise include strategic thinking, stress management, creative thinking, charismatic leadership, decision-making and mental toughness. Eli has been conducting training seminars, workshops, personal coaching and speaking engagements for over a decade in the U.S and abroad. He is known for his versatile, dynamic, hands-on style of training, which gives people a core level learning experience that they can apply in their daily tasking. Few among his long list of clients are organizations such as DHL, AFLAC, A.I.G, Mass Mutual Financial Group, Florida Power & Lighting. NBAA, GE, O.G.T, Paine Webber, Petsmart, The Israeli Government, Haifa University, I.D.F and many more. Eli’s professional background is unique and diversified including military experience, corporate leadership and professional sports. The Thinking Coach Training style is based upon in-depth understanding of the difficulties that people face in trying to excel in a relentless and competitive environment, where he integrates effectively hard core training with human soft skills. He has the ability to facilitate a training environment that encourages the best of people to be expressed while helping them build confidence and charisma that carries forward to their every day responsibilities. Most importantly Eli’s seminars empower people with effective and practical thinking skills that help them relieve stress and aggravation in handling their work load, improve their quality of service and provide for a pleasant and productive work environment.

3. Quotes of Wise Men: “You become what you think about, so think what you want to become, and become it”. Anonymous “Intelligence is something we are borne with. Thinking is a skill that must be learned.” Edward de Bono “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together”. Vincent Van Gogh “The world we have made as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far creates problems we cannot solve at the same level of thinking at which we created them.” Albert Einstein When asked what single event was most helpful in developing the theory of relativity Albert Einstein said, “Figuring out how to think about the problem”. Albert Einstein “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires a creative imagination and marks the real advances in science.” Albert Einstein “Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one”. Albert Einstein “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” Albert Einstein “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.” Albert Einstein “ If you change the way you look at things the things you look at change”. Anonymous “ When you think about what is, you don’t see what is, you see your own thoughts about what is” Anonymous “ I am not ashamed to confess- I am ignorant of what I do not know”. Anonymous “ Life is a limited engagement of a timeless collection”. Anonymous

4. Internal Strategic Alignment • Critical Thinking • Developing unbiased mind set • Personal effectiveness strategy – time, goals and priorities. • Mission vision strategy. • Focus and speed thinking – being at the point. • Personal location strategy – ABC of thinking. • Responsive vs. Reactive. g • Interpersonal Effectiveness Strategies • Equating expectations • The 4 characters strategy • Magnetic and electric response mechanism • Feed-back model • Think tank – “White space” strategy • Optimizing group skill and talents • 5 steps problem solving strategy Internal Strategic Alignment Interpersonal Effectiveness Strategies External Strategic Development • Note: • White regenerates Red • Red fortifies White • White and Red energize Blue • External Strategic Development • Forming strategies – FED Model • Separating facts from fiction • “Ideas factory” Workshop • Evaluation techniques - MOC • The question behind the question • Individual decision making • Increasing scope and perception, the Bigger Picture methodology • 7 Steps Task Oriented strategy

5. External Strategic Development F.E.D SYSTEM Critical thinking Assimilation Core change LID, LTS What does it say, says to do? Decision-Making Execution Consider all variables and options Thinking in parameters The question behind the question Analyzing consequences Evaluation & Reasoning's Consequences & Practical Considerations What does it say says? References, information, scope What the case is Depersonalizing The bigger picture What does it say? FactsGathering This is a fundamental methodology to form strategies in any desired territory. Each one of the 3 steps of the FED requires specific training, which will help to develop a strategic state of mind. A strategic state of mind is basic necessity of leadership development for executives who have to perform in an ever changing global economy. “State of mind” to mean a mind that has been trained to deal with future problems before they occur i.e.. Readiness, flexibility and creativity . This becomes the platform for strategic planning. The FED system is designed to answer the most basic question in Strategic Thinking, which is: What is the best most effective way to accomplish any given goal, either personal, interpersonal or project oriented?

6. 5 Step Problem Solving Analysis • W.I.P.-what is the problem-rephrase impersonally, objectively, concisely. • Ideas - Generate as many ideas as possible without restriction • Idea selection – Select top 3 ideas • Analyze benefits and concerns of these ideas – select top idea 5. Action, Plan – Who, How, When

7. Strategic Probability Analysis High likelihood Low impact MONITOR High, High ACTION L I K E L y Low, Low Nothing needs to be done Low – High MONITOR I M P A C T

8. Internal Strategic Alignment Consciously Responsive Vs. Automatically Reactive LID: Emotional-Rational In any given situation, where we have to make a decision or give an opinion, a normal reaction is to decide either for or against an idea and then give the reasons for that decision. The purpose of LID is to reverse this process by doing a “devil’s advocate”, conscious thinking first. If a reaction, positive or negative, to an idea occurs then it is important to Consider All Variable Essentials {CAVE}, focusing first on the opposite side of the initial reaction. What this effectively does is to limit the power of the emotional reaction to ideas and suggestions and help assist one to consider them more rationally and creatively through the process of reasoning. After someone reacts emotionally to an idea or suggestion we might say, "Could you temporarily put a LID on that idea?" L = Like I = Interesting D = Dislike Consider the following controversial issues: • There should be a five-year renewable marriage contract. • People should wear badges stating how they feel, whether they are in a good mood or bad mood that day. • The country should be 2 presidents, male and female • All the seats should be taken out of the city buses • 4-day work week should be instituted with self choice working hours • One week out of the year management works low skilled jobs. • All employees are required to participate in physical fitness one hour during work hours. • Once a month all levels of the organization should participate in free non punitive feed back session. Benefits of Using LID: • Using LID can enhance your relationship with others because the process acknowledges their opinions and perceptions. This makes for good communication strategy • Without LID you may reject a valuable idea that seems implausible at first because it doesn’t fit your opinion • With LID your 'gut reaction' to an idea can be substantiated • With LID you become a proficient & creative decision-maker that is able to free themselves from their own old paradigms • With LID you decrease the margin of error in your decision-making process • LID gets you to challenge your way of thinking and helps you become impersonal and unbiased

9. Questions of the right kind offer scope and perceptions that very often reveal new ways of thinking that could not be seen before. If used correctly questions become an effective tool of decision making process. There are 5 distinct characteristics to useful strategic questions: Impersonal and unbiased Include variety of parameters to consider Prioritize parameters Most people have the tendency to become emotionally involved before they consider a situation rationally and therefore they become biased from the beginning. It is important that the order of thinking is reversed, whereby, the question is depersonalized by eliminating the words I or Me from the question. The next step is to use as many parameters as possible to offer the process a space to expand into and grow. The next step is to prioritize the parameters and ask the question again. You’ll find that having gone through that process your mind is much clearer and decision is easier. This process relates to problem definition. For example, supposing we are in a process of trying to make a decision about buying a house. We can ask ourselves “what house should I buy”? Or we can ask a much better question that is impersonal and includes many different parameters such as: “What is the most sensible house to buy at this time given the following considerations: personal budget, current economic conditions, personal short and long term financial earning prospects, real estate market, the stress or relief it may cause, buyers market or sellers market, price analysis, school system etc. Exercise- Choose five from the following questions that pertain to your personal circumstance and rephrase the question in a way that is impersonal, considers variety of parameters and prioritizes the parameters: 1. How can I inspire and motivate my work force? 2. Why don’t I get a promotion? 3. Why doesn’t my boss listen to me? 4. How can I get my employees to stop asking stupid questions? 5. How can I get my employees to like me? 6. How can I handle the unfair demands from upper management? 7. Why don’t I get included in the bigger picture considerations? 8. How can I get my employee to take more responsibility? 9. How can I stop the internal politics in my office? 10. How can I better handle time pressures? Question behind the question

10. Getting a Grip Upon RealityUnderstanding And Depersonalizing The Challenges That Face You Mental toughness views challenges as spring-board for success and as opportunity to gain valuable experience. This can be achieved through the process of mapping out the challenges in an impersonal way and getting a clear focus of what you need to accomplish. What are the 3 main challenges that you face in your job? 1. 2. 3. Rephrase these challenges without the words I or Me. 1. 2. 3. Select one challenge that you wish to overcome in the short-term!

11. What You Say NO To – Learning To Become Assertive We all love to outwardly agree with other people, don’t we? Agreements and friendships are great, providing they come from free choice. There is a big difference between saying YES from real sense of choice and agreement, or feeling unable to say NO. It is very likely that every person can relate to the aspect of saying YES to something because they either felt threatened, afraid or lacked the courage to say NO. This is called being unwillingly compromised and is a sign of mental weakness. If this aspect is not properly addressed it leads to back biting and negative unexpressed feelings that build up and over time can take away from productivity and achieving one’s potential. • List 5 issues in Interpersonal dealings that you say NO to 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • List 5 things you say YES to which stem from what you say NO to. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 3. Introduce to the class your No’s and Your Yes’s in a decisive and assertive words, tone and body language

12. What You Say NO To – Learning To Become Assertive We all love to outwardly agree with other people, don’t we? Agreements and friendships are great, providing they come from free choice. There is a big difference between saying YES from real sense of choice and agreement, or feeling unable to say NO. It is very likely that every person can relate to the aspect of saying YES to something because they either felt threatened, afraid or lacked the courage to say NO. This is called being unwillingly compromised and is a sign of mental weakness. If this aspect is not properly addressed it leads to back biting and negative unexpressed feelings that build up and over time can take away from productivity and achieving one’s potential. • List 5 issues in Interpersonal dealings that you say NO to 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • List 5 things you say YES to which stem from what you say NO to. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 3. Introduce to the class your No’s and Your Yes’s in a decisive and assertive words, tone and body language