As part of its ongoing Distinguished Speaker Series, the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government hosted Dr. Julia Sloan, Principal of Sloan International Inc, at an information-sharing seminar titled ‘Life after Planning – Leveraging Strategic Thinking’, on 7 April. “The world today is in urgent need of leaders who are strategic critical thinkers and can look beyond traditional development approaches to create sustainable, need-based solutions that can help drive lateral progress within their communities. The necessity to plug this perceived gap between leadership and strategic thinking assumes greater significance given the dynamic and evolving nature of businesses, governments and their stakeholders today,” Dr. Sloan said at the seminar. She added: “Globalization and technology increase the complexity of strategy and policy formulation. My focus is on the learning aspect of strategic thinking, which moves beyond traditional frameworks to a more complex perception that incorporates innovation and continuous change.” Leveraging her experience as a former consultant for the UN Peacekeeping Forces and the UN Secretariat, World Bank and World Health Organization, Dr Sloan shared: “Businesses and institutions will remain competitive provided leaders move beyond what successful strategists do and focus on how they learn to think the way they do. Unfortunately, while there is an abundance of research on what strategists do to make strategy, there is little on how they learn. The learning aspect is more often implied or inferred than studied.” Dr Sloan, whose book titled ‘Learning to Think Strategically’, completed a second print run in 2013, noted: “My hope is that the book will support leaders to better understand and further expand the scope of their own strategic thinking capabilities, while shaping the way others think as well.” Dr Ali Sebaa Al Marri, Executive President, Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government, said: “Issues and challenges pertaining to strategy development and implementation are of great interest to MBRSG, where we seek to develop the leaders of tomorrow. We were honored to welcome Dr Sloan to present her insights on the subject, drawing upon her varied experience on the subject.” The Distinguished Speaker Series at Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government has hosted prominent academics and public figures, including Lee Kuan Yew, Klaus Schwab and Joseph Nye.