Book excerpt: Sustaining effective innovation is today's #1 business challenge. Success begins with strategy. Effective strategy begins with becoming a strategic organization. Now, discover how to do this, and how to integrate strategy into a complete innovation framework that works. Becoming a Strategic Organization is part of Philadelphia University's breakthrough team-based approach to innovation: one that links business, design and engineering, and delivers extraordinary results in both new and existing ventures. First, Dr. Stephen Spinelli and Heather McGowan introduce this "Disrupt Together" approach, explain its deep roots in design thinking, and show how it generates far more high-value ideas for innovation. Next, Dr. Geoffrey Cromarty drills down to focus specifically on organizational strategy. Drawing on Philadelphia University's own remarkable experience, Cromarty demonstrates how to create intentional, flexible strategic plans that promote innovation; and how to improve innovation preparation, execution, and adaptability throughout the organization. Becoming a Strategic Organization is one of 15 e-chapters addressing all facets of innovation, from design processes and team development to business models and value delivery. Each is crafted by a pioneering business innovator -- and they all integrate into today's most coherent, realistic blueprint for innovation. For all entrepreneurs, executives, managers, strategists, and students who want to drive more value from innovation. Dr. Geoffrey Cromarty, Ed.D., is Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Philadelphia University, where he has also served as Vice President of Planning and Institutional Research, Interim Dean of the School of Design and Engineering, and Executive Assistant to the President. He led the University's first strategic planning effort as well as its master plan, landscape plan, and capital plans.