The 108 Skills of Natural Born Leaders

50. Develop Scenarios

Scenarios are hypothetical courses of action. They represent a form of what-if thinking. For example, "What if the new manufacturing process increases production capacity 30 percent?" or "What if the new manufacturing process takes six months longer to implement than is expected?"

Scenarios provide the opportunity to consider multiple futures and chart courses of action to meet those multiple realities. The best leaders identify alternate scenarios to help them prevent surprises and broaden the potential for successful leadership action. They use their multiple scenarios to chart their course into the uncertain leadership arena. They know that the value in scenario building comes in the analysis behind the action paths. ...