Have you learned to think strategically?

[paranoidmumdroid1]

I'm in a senior finance role in my late 40s. Big 4 qualified, engineering background, excellent CV. And yet...... in strategic thinking I'm out of my depth. It's just not intuitive to me despite long and varied experience. It's not the first time I've realised this - I just don't seem to see the bigger picture through all the detail and it's happened frequently throughout my career. Never caused any major problems in the workplace, I don't lack confidence and others have confidence in me.......but leaves me feeling a little inadequate, like its a language or software I just can't quite grasp.
DH however is intuitively strategic/commercial in any situation - he's not learned it, similar background and experience to me, he just is.

If I haven't learned this "skill" so far, will I ever? Have any of you?
I'm not looking to move upwards btw, I'm just curious if this will always elude me? As a smart person it's hard to accept!

Personally I don't think it's something you can learn to do particularly effectively. I manage someone who is totally unable to think strategically and it does cause problems (I end up having to do parts of their job sometimes).

However: the likes of me, who tends to only see the bigger picture, needs the likes of you, as I can miss the detail. I seek out non big picture thinkers to work with so we can balance each other out.

I'm a detail person. Doesn't hold me back. I take the strategic plan and make it work. I can see the big picture and understand impacts. But I'm not a forward thinking dreamer. I don't come up with great innovation myself. In most work places there is space for both.

I think it's an intuition but can be learned. How about planning backwards and trying to see what the impact of each action would be if you follow strategy 1, 2 and 3? Perhaps breaking it down by month/year and try to visualise the outcome.