It happened last week.  I went out to pick up the morning paper and stood in the driveway for a few minutes.  The air was fresh and clear.  The sky was a bright blue and cloudless.  The temperature was slightly chilly.  And for a moment - just a brief moment - I could not determine if the current conditions were a precursor of Fall....or Spring!

Was the chill in the air the beginning of a seasonal cool down that would take me toward colorful leaves and pumpkin pie? 
Or was the cool breeze a last gasp effort of winter,  and beach days  and sunshine that  waited  for me over the time horizon?

I knew a change was coming, but to what?  The end of school or the start of classes?  The start of a new vegetable patch or a bounty of corn and pumpkins?  Was it time to purchase an Easter ham or a Thanksgiving turkey? 

Well, my mind quickly brought me back to reality; hot and sultry days were giving way to falling leaves and the aroma of wood fires.

But, in that ever-so-short instant, I felt that it could have gone either way! 

And I thought to myself, "What if time came to a screeching halt?  What if I could choose what came next?"

As leaders, you and I stand in those kinds of time warps again and again. 

• We are in the middle of a project and have to make the call to go forward to completion or pull the plug on it.  
• We are leading organizational change, and it is up to us to push folks beyond the point of no return. 
• We  meet with our Board of Directors and wonder if the current strategy is in the best interest of the company.

We are the shapers of "what comes next"  for ourselves, our organizations, and all the shareholders and stakeholders.  It would be more comfortable to wait and let the next "season" make itself known. It  would be easy to let our optimism or pessimism influence our choices.  it would be great if we could delegate all the critical decisions to someone else.

But that is not  our calling.  As leaders we make the choices that bring the future into being.

What are you doing to hone your skills in strategy thinking? 
Can you overcome your mind maps and mindsets to influence the seasons of your company?