Management is no longer only about making decisions. It’s about ensuring that the plans made at the top trickle down to the bottommost layer of the organization and reap results.   

Chief Strategy Officers or Business Strategists are the professionals who are proficient in the art of creating conditions for smooth management of an organization – from planning and operations to executing and evaluation. Better known as strategic management.

Strategists are like réalisateurs of French cinema; the directors who with a variety of skills and a wide-ranging experience act as turnaround strategists and managers of managers for the organization as a whole. Here’s a look at the role played by strategists, qualities they possess, and all that you need to begin a career as a strategist.

Role of Business Strategists – Action and Vision

Strategic Management experts are closely connected with the ‘action’ and ‘vision’ of the organization. They evaluate business goals, help companies reach the objectives, and also well-understand the industry they operate in. Overall, their role is to:

•  Observe and assess the impact of management decisions on business functions,
•  Identify triggers – from planning to implementation – to ensure smooth incorporation of plans into actions,
•  Recognize industry best practices and find ways to adopt it in an organization, and
•  Be the bridge between management and company stakeholders – from employees to consumers.

Qualities Business Strategists Possess

•  They are good communicators and carry a trustworthy persona, which establishes them as one who can be counted upon in the organization. This quality is important in being able to traverse across all levels of the organization and be the hustler that an organization needs.
•  They possess wide-ranging knowledge about different industries, markets, and even government regulations. The best way to achieve this level of expertise for business strategists is to keep the pulse of the latest happenings in the industry.
•  They are confident individuals with a lot of guts, even if the situation demands walking up to the CEO and have an honest conversation about the matter at hand.
• They are innovators who always have ideas to lift a dull conversation, dismal situation, and raiding stocks. They are the fixers for most organizations.
•  Most importantly, they are leaders who have the ability to bring the best out of people.

Where they come from!

If you are aiming for a career as a strategy professional, consulting is one of the most popular starting points. Few other common job roles from where strategists come from are:

•    Financial Analyst
•    Market Researcher
•    Project Manager
•    Business Analyst
•    Marketing Consultant
•    Process Coordinator

Starting a career as a Business Strategist

Undertaking high-stake projects or being involved in strategic initiatives at organizations can help you build the profile required for strategist roles. In addition, the following are the typical credentials possessed by strategic managers.

Source: Payscale, US Bureau of Labor Statistics

That said, top companies bring Strategists in their C-suite from various other fields, including finance, computer science, accounting, data science, even liberal arts, so long as one has the skills, experience, and industry reach.

Get Certified as a Business Strategist!

Topping up education with professional certification enhances one’s professional candidature by multiple times. Within business management, a strategic management certification can best serve the purpose of your career game.

The Strategy Institute is one of the top-notch certifying bodies that evaluate professionals in business science on rigorous standards valued by industry players across the globe. There are two rungs of specializations – one for professionals just starting out in the career (associate certification) and others for senior-level professionals (Senior Business Strategy Professional).  

Earning a professional qualification dubs you competent to operate across geographies, and renders open a huge community of professionals to learn and network.

Authenticate your knowledge and wield authority in your career with the certification of choice for top executives.