1. "Beginning with the end in mind" means to start with a clearly developed sense of our destination. However, it also means that this "end" or destination can give us a sense of the "whole" of our life, or of our organization, so that we can better understand what matters most to us, and so that we can examine each potential "part" of our day, week, month, and year to decide whether or not it really fits into, and helps us progress toward, our desired whole, or end, or destination.

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2. Porter's Five Forces framework for competitive analysis helps leaders and managers to better understand what is going on in the environment external to the organization, so that proactive choices can be made about how to respond to the ever changing competitive situation, in order to put the organization in a more advantageous position within its industry.

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3. When we listen empathically to others, and "seek first to understand" their viewpoints deeply, then afterwards, they will sometimes listen more openly to us when we seek "to be understood" with regards to our viewpoints.

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4. During the internal assessment stage of strategic planning, you need to focus upon identifying accurately the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, especially those core competencies that really matter to customers. A true core competency is by definition some capacity or capability that is enduring. Therefore, the focus here should be upon the present, not thinking about what the organization was good at in the past or what "competencies" it seems to be developing for the future.

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