Do you know what is the strategic superpower I try to cultivate all the time?
Curiosity well applied.
The companies that win are not only those with the best data, but those that notice what others ignore.
Innovation does not come from a brilliant isolated insight, but from a deep understanding of how people’s lives are evolving and how companies are trying to keep up with innovation.
One of the most ironic things in the world of organizations is that the more we strive to “solve problems,” the more we risk becoming blind.
Blind to new ideas. Blind to what is changing outside. Blind to everything that does not fit into our corporate mental models.
We spend so much time looking inside, between inefficiencies, meetings, processes, Slack, that we forget to look outside.
Out there, in the marketplace, where crazy, interesting, often revolutionary things happen – and where reality has not yet read our latest business plan.
However, there is one time of the year that I personally look forward to with a strange form of strategic pleasure.
Every year, between late December and February, I take the time to gather the best strategic reports in the areas I follow or that affect my clients.
It is a ritual that helps me refocus my point of view: from the micro to the macro, from the present to the possible, from the local to the global.
A way to see things with new eyes.
To break the corporate spell that makes us believe that “this is how it has always been done.”
To find a clever idea that forces me to stop and think:
“What if this changes everything?”
I did it again, I did it better
Last year I did something simple. Perhaps too simple. But which, on balance, vaguely resembled an act of intellectual piracy.
I put a Google Drive folder online with the best 200 strategy trends I had found around the world. Result? Over 100,000 views. Hundreds of hits. And an avalanche of messages.
Why did this happen? Perhaps because we live in a world that complicates everything and underestimates the power of curiosity.
Or maybe people need tools to help them navigate, not just inform themselves.
But this year I thought, “What if I made it irresistible?”
Not only updated with 200 more reports from the biggest brands on the planet.
Not just sorted into a database with filters and searches.
But improved in depth: each trend now has a concise abstract, a list of key takeaways, and-most importantly-a practical example of application.
Because reading is useful, but seeing how you might use a trend in reality is another story.
Let’s face it: no one reads 200 PDFs!
But getting into the minds of those who have already read, understood and synthesized them… is the closest thing to cheating in strategy!
Now it is yours!
There is a psychological theory (true, heh) that says we value more what has cost us effort.
It is the famous “IKEA effect”: you assemble a piece of furniture, you get attached to it.
But what happens when someone else has already done the work? When you find yourself holding 200 trends already read, analyzed, synthesized, with takeaways and practical examples?
It happens that, in order not to fall into the trap of “it was free anyway,” I decided to put it on a fee basis.
Not to limit access, but to increase use.
Last year I gave away the STRTGY Trends Library to anyone who wanted it.
This year I decided to treat it for what it is: a professional tool.
Click here for immediate access
How to make the most of the STRTGY Trends Library
A collection of strategic trends is useless if it doesn’t make you think differently.
The STRTGY Trends Library is not a catalog to flip through as needed. It is a toolbox for those who want to save time, generate ideas, and-let’s face it-look half a turn ahead of the competition.
Here are 8 brilliant ways to get the most out of this collection.
1. Start with what really matters to you
Now you can filter everything: by sector (more than 23 different ones, I’m sure yours will be there, and if it’s not, there’s a link to request it).
By topic. Even by company name.
It’s like having a search engine–but that only gives strategically interesting answers.
2. Keep abreast of emerging trends
Trends don’t have the courtesy to wait for you. But this collection does: it will be constantly updated, so you don’t have to go around LinkedIn, reports, newsletters and blogs again every month.
Basically, it is like having a research team working for you without asking for a raise.
3. Use reports to update your strategy
Frameworks, data, models, trends–everything you need to build a strategy that looks like it was thought up by McKinsey itself. Only here the materials are readable. And ready to use.
Use them if you need ideas for the roadmap, a presentation to the board, or to pretend you thought of it yourself.
4. Benchmark and analyze the competition
Sometimes the best way to innovate is not to invent something new, but to better understand what others are already doing-and to do it better. It’s legal espionage. And elegant.
5. Inspire your team
You know those meetings where everyone looks at each other, no one talks, and at the end you repeat what you did last year? Here. Project a couple of insights from the STRTGY Trend Library and see what happens.
6. Scout out free spaces and new opportunities
Trends, if looked at closely, do not just tell what others are doing. They also say what no one does yet.
And there the real opportunities open up. Here you find maps to uncharted territory: emerging markets, new needs, ideas waiting to be seized. So much for brainstorming!
7. Contribute to the collection
Did you find an interesting report? Report it. Because if collective intelligence is the new currency, this collection is your bank account. I will share them along with your link to thank you for your contribution without taking credit.
8. Get visibility
Have you written something worth reading? You can sponsor your content within the Library and get it seen right where everyone is looking for inspiration and insight.
It’s like product placement. Only it’s your product.
The most interesting insight is never written
It is between the lines, between the links, between the connections that only you can make.
And so I’m willing to bet that as you explore the STRTGY Trends Library, you’ll come up with a use for it that even I didn’t anticipate.
Please: write to me.
But to bring it out-you have to go in.
ALWAYS MAKE PROGRESS ⤴
Antonio
