Blog Post #6

1) How is strategic leadership different from strategy

• Strategic leaders are leaders who can display and promote a vision or strategy for their organization and bring it across to their followers in a way that they trust a leader. A strategy itself is very specific and not modifiable. A good strategic leader though, can take a strategy and make it work for a whole organization if he/she seizes opportunities AND "stay  on course" with a strategy (Ohmae, 1982). Strategic leaders have to be flexible whereas a strategy without a leader is very "A-type" and straight-forward.

 2) How does one think strategically in sport?

• A coach thinks strategically if he/she has a plan. Be it for a practice, a game, or when planning a season. There's a strategy of how to win a game and then there's execution. Without a strategy, there's no specific goals and it's very likely defeat/losing will come with it. Also, if the environment of the game changes (i.e. different players on opponent team, injured players, weather etc.) the strategy needs to be re-assessed and modified as need to secure a successful outcome.

 
     a) Why is performing a SWOT analysis critical to strategy development?

• It is critical because any organization, club, team or even just a regular business needs to know what they're good at (strengths), things they can improve on (weaknesses), they're goals (opportunities), and what they have to watch out for (threats). In sports, if you don't know anything about your opposing team (their strengths, their weaknesses) you might be more vulnerable and chances are you're more likely to lose.

 3) How is the creation of Collegiate Hockey Inc an example of strategic leadership?

• The CHI (Collegiate Hockey Inc.) is a good example of strategic leadership since it helps young hockey players (and their parents) to pursue their goal of playing pro hockey one day. With no draft in collegiate hockey and strict NCCA recruiting rules the CHI is a good board for young and talented players.

 4) What is an example of integrative thinking in the creation of Collegiate Hockey Inc? 

• One example of Integrative thinking is that with the formation of CHI there's a way that allows a organizations or teams & coaches to get access to data/information on players without violating any NCCA rules.