Maykish, P: Strength in Ways: Finding Creativity in Routine

Good strategy demands creativity but this can be a vague subject. To make strategic creativity more concrete for education, two methods are followed. The first is to present an overview of relevant aspects from strategic theory; the second is to conduct an interdisciplinary survey of various strategy-development models across a range of professions. The combination of the higher-level theory and the more ground-level models can clarify strategic creativity in practice, and thereby provide practical education for action officers assuming new strategy positions. The theory section can provide greater understanding; and the use of wide-ranging models, drawn across several disciplines, can help officers visualize real-world stages of strategy procedure and related considerations in strategic creativity. The theory and models, together, can make the creative aspect of practical strategizing more accessible and teachable. Altering our strategic culture along these lines, over time, may also provide an important shift to match larger national security challenges, including decreasing levels of funding in an era of globalizing complexity.