IT'S ALL in your head: adopt a strategic mindset and you’re well on your way up the corporate ladder. All the pundits agree that those with stellar careers are those who can “think strategically”.

Martin Clarke, the director of Cranfield University’s general management programme, says: “It is really important for aspirational managers to think strategically. If they don’t develop their own agenda then they will end up working to someone else’s. And if they don’t have their own agenda, they can’t add value and that will limit their career.”

But what does “to think strategically” mean? Henry Mintzberg, a professor of management studies at McGill University in Montreal, describes strategic thinkers as visionaries with the ability to see ahead . . . and behind (have an understanding of the past) and above (be able to see the big picture) and below (be able to dig out “gems”) and beside (be able to think laterally and creatively) and beyond (able to put ideas in context) and, finally, be able to see it through (implement the strategy) — after which contortions your head will almost certainly fall off.

Clarke has some simpler suggestions for achieving strategic nirvana. He says that thinking strategically means having ideas about the future of your department or organisation. To do this well you need to gain an “external perspective”. “You can’t just sit there and decide to be strategic,” Clarke says. “It is a social process and is best done through interaction with others.” First, to gain the ideas that will form the basis of your strategies you will need to expose yourself to different people, organisations and industries: in other words, you will need to network. Then to turn the ideas into viable strategies you will need, according to Clarke, to be able to brainstorm, persuade, influence, and inspire colleagues.

Julie Gray, the programme director of the leading strategy and change programme at Ashridge Business School, suggests that you begin by talking to those people in your department or company with strategic roles — the bosses. Then study business plans and try to understand how they were put together. “Stand back and ask ‘If this were my business, what would I do with it?’ ” Gray says. She suggests honing up on a couple of strategic frameworks: PEST and Porter ’s Five Forces, for instance.

But pushing envelopes isn’t for everyone. Gray says psychometric testing shows that forward thinking comes more naturally to some and less so to others — such as those who excel at operational, day-to-day tasks. But firms need both to succeed.

However, it can be difficult if the two clash. Gray says: “Strategy is about being able to stand back and think outside the organisation. To do that you need time to reflect. The problem is that if you’re at your desk with your feet up ‘reflecting’, some people think you’re not doing anything valuable.” Little do they know.

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