A strategist is a person with responsibility for the formulation and implementation of a

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

. Strategy generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved using the means (resources). Organizations generally task senior leaders with determining strategy. Strategy can be intended or can emerge as a pattern of activity as the organization adapts to its environment or competes. It involves activities such as

strategic planning Strategic planning is the activity undertaken by an organization through which it seeks to define its future direction and makes decisions such as resource allocation aimed at achieving its intended goals. "Strategy" has many definitions, but it ...

and

strategic thinking Strategic thinking is a mental or thinking process applied by individuals and within organizations in the context of achieving a goal or set of goals. When applied in an organizational strategic management process, strategic thinking involves ...

Types of strategists by field

The strategy role exists in a variety of organizations and fields of study. In large corporations, strategic planners or corporate financial planning and analysis (FP&A) personnel are involved in the formulation and implementation of the organization's strategy. The strategy is typically set by business leaders such as the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and key business or functional leaders and is reviewed by the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

. An ''AI strategist'' uses evidence and reason to make circumstance-dependent decisions that shape the development of AI towards a set of desired outcomes. The scope of AI development can range from within small organizations to global landscape. A '' design strategist'' has the ability to combine the

innovative Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed ent ...

, perceptive and holistic insights of a

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

with the pragmatic and systemic skills of a planner to guide strategic direction in context of business needs,

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

intent,

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

quality and customer

values In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live ( normative ethics), or to describe the significance of different a ...

. An ''economic strategist'' is a person who can create a sustainable commercial advantage by applying

and quantitative ideas and systems at a

sell side Sell side is a term used in the financial services industry to mean providing services to sell securities. Firms or institutions on this side include investment banks, brokerages and market makers, who facilitate offering securities to investors, ...

financial institution. A ''political strategist'' is a multi-discipline strategist who works within political campaigns. Also known as political consulting, the political strategist will advise a campaign on a range of activities such as

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

, resourcing, opposition research, opinion polling and engagement strategy. A ''sport strategist'' is a professional that performs scouting and analysis of the players involved in an upcoming competitive match. Sports strategists typically analyze film footage, organize video libraries, and recommend attacks and defensive strategies in order to capitalize on an opponent's weaknesses. Working closely with investment managers, a ''principal investment strategist'' contributes revenue by providing principal investment

analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data sc ...

and alternative product structuring. A ''sales strategist'' develops

trade ideas and assists in the

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

of those trades to

buy side Buy-side is a term used in investment banking to refer to advising institutions concerned with buying investment services. Private equity funds, mutual funds, life insurance companies, unit trusts, hedge funds, and pension funds are the most c ...

clients. A ''banking strategist'' partners with investment bankers and capital market experts on

corporate finance Corporate finance is an area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, and the capital structure of businesses, the actions that managers take to increase the Value investing, value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analy ...

and capital structure analyses to identify and execute banking transactions. A '' trading strategist'' contributes

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

to the business in which his team is embedded by developing and delivering

trade ideas, models and analytic systems to the trading desk. Within the

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

industry, strategists are known as ''“strats”.'' A '' military strategist'' develops strategies in the field of

warfare War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of State (polity), states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or betwe ...

with the objective of outmaneuvering their opponent. An ''IT Strategist'' develops an IT strategy that is aligned with the business

to implement systems to give business processes

efficiency Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid making mistakes or wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time while performing a task. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste. ...

and

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

gains and therefore a possible

competitive Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

advantage.

Strategist as a personality type

Strategists are known to have an INTJ personality trait , based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ( MBTI). The MBTI was derived from Psychiatrist

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...

theory of psychological types enabling us to have a better understanding of people's personality traits and what their strengths are as a person, although the research shows MBTI to be an unreliable measure of categorising personality types. It is commonly found that strategists are more prone to possess a combination of 4 specific personality traits, which includes Introversion, Intuition, Thinking and Judgment (forming the acronym INTJ). However, this combination of personality traits is known to be very rare among people , making strategists to be very sought after especially by major firms. Dr. Vladimir Kvint defined strategist as a wise, disciplined, and optimistic professional with a strategic mindset, a vision of the future, and intuition. It is possible at times to find that the vision or ideas of a strategist may not be align with conventional ideas which can make it difficult for others to accept or envision.Teamtechnology.co.uk, (2014). INTJ Personality Types In-Depth. nlineAvailable at: http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/personality/types/intj/overview/ ccessed 26 Oct. 2014

Career paths

People who possess a strategist mindset are generally capable of doing well in any possible field due to the various traits that they own. Strategists tend to follow a career path that challenges them mentally in terms of development, and seek to work with people who are in the same caliber in terms of intelligence and competency. As it is highly likely that people with a strategist mindset tend to be more single-minded and may not be appreciative of others' effort, it is crucial for them to work in a suitable working environment. Common careers that strategists tend to choose are: # AcademiaTeamtechnology.co.uk, (2014). INTJ careers (based on research). nlineAvailable at: http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/personality/types/intj/careers/ ccessed 26 Oct. 2014 # Computing # Engineering # Sciences # Project Management # Research and development # Management Strategists can have a variety of backgrounds such journalism, speech writing, data analyzing, or telemarketing. People with a background of public relations or advertising can be hired as strategists because of their experience in market research and message delivery.Sides, J., Shaw, D. R., Grossmann, M., & Lipsitz, K. (2018). ''Campaigns & Elections'' (3rd ed., pp. 153-155). New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

References

{{reflist Strategy

Types of strategists by field

Strategist as a personality type

Career paths

See also

References