What are the most common obstacles to effective strategic thinking in early career?

To think strategically, we need to be able to analyze different obstacles and scenarios. But we only know which obstacles or scenarios we might come across if we have enough experience and know more about the possible obstacles. So experience is about knowledge.

Experimentation helps a team or an individual confirm their assumptions and determine how a service or solution will perform. Lack of experience can be overcome by creating an environment that allows learning opportunities, where mistakes are not blamed but seen as opportunities to learn something new. Motivation plays a huge part in learning, so it's best to have an engaging story, vision, goals, and opportunities that allow one's expertise to be acknowledged and nurtured to be open to new information. Opt for diversity in your team, as this will bring new insights and strategies to approach a particular challenge and promote innovation.

One of the most valuable things to look for in your early career is a workplace and a manager that allows, maybe even encourages, you to fail. Without experimentation - you'll never bring anything new to the table.

Failure often stems from upbringing and a corporate environment that doesn't tolerate failure and punishes people for it. To address this, create guardrails that minimize errors, explain that errors happen, and emphasize that learning and retrospectives must be in place to mitigate and reduce errors. Every person is different, so a leader might need to approach each individual differently. A common process and way of doing things must be agreed upon and practiced by the group to ensure that everyone helps each other rather than competing against each other. No one likes to fail because it's important to remember that everyone fails, and no one is perfect. Embrace failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Transparent communication is key. Flag for key problems early and often - nobody likes hearing of catastrophes last minute. Additionally, a huge difference from university and school in general is that you'll find that most deadlines are not as fixed as you may think initially. So keep your communication clear and most people will be sympathetic to your cause!

Thinking that strategy is only applicable to senior levels and not for someone who just started can hinder Strategic thinking. When you are at begin of your career , you are so much into the current race to excel that you dont focus on conceptualizing where your work impacts the big picture.

Culture is undoubtedly one of the most influential factors in any company or institution. It can determine whether elite players fail miserably or less skilled individuals excel beyond belief. Wherever you find yourself, there may be a need to adapt to a particular culture, but it's essential to retain your core values and not compromise your integrity. While you can contribute positively to a culture, if resistance is high, it might be best to consider finding another company or environment that aligns better with your values and principles. Change is hard and culture eats you for breakfast.

What I think is missing here is people-pleasing, especially for women. If I had one piece of advice to women starting out in their career, it would be to to be overly concerned with pleasing other people. Sure, easy for someone at my stage of life and career to say. But I can promise you that I squandered too much emotional capital and too many years unstrategically trying to please others.