“Leadership and management together contribute to formulating and executing strategy. However, it’s leadership alone that defines the vision and framework for the major strategic directions of the company. ”
By Pierre Vareille / Leadership by Eric-Jean Garcia
What characterizes a strategic leader is their complete embrace of the strategic aspects of their role, which involves contributing to the development, communication, and implementation of their business unit’s or company’s strategy, as well as their own career strategy. They create value for their organization by exerting influence over its purpose, direction, and essence, but not only that. They also possess the ability to assess the implications of their choices in order to anticipate the future and thus make the best possible decisions.
He is also clear about his positioning, where he wants to go, and what type of role he wants to occupy, such as having a larger scope, larger teams, more technological content, or even more strategic clients.
The only limit to strategy remains uncertainty, which the strategic leader can manage through action, being responsive rather than passive, and knowing how to improvise while demonstrating agility, much like in the game of chess. I refer you to the bestseller ‘The Queen’s Gambit,’ which was adapted into a TV series by Netflix and achieved incredible success. The story follows a young woman’s quest to become the world’s best chess player and her struggles to achieve that goal. The success was such that it sparked a global enthusiasm for chess, even revitalizing the business of one of the last manufacturers of wooden chess sets, a small business in the Jura region in France.
How to develop strategic leadership?
To enhance one’s strategic mindset, the leader must succeed in detaching themselves from the operational world to free up time and immerse themselves in a less planned, less tangible, less structured realm. They must then create the conditions to translate their strategy into actions while ensuring their teams remain engaged.
To do this, the leader must rely on their vision, intuition, creativity, political acumen, discernment, and insight. Thus, becoming a strategic leader involves having the audacity to trust oneself and displaying agility to adjust one’s roadmap based on constraints and opportunities. Necessary skills for a strategic leader include:
- Projecting into the future and setting a vision and objectives.
- Developing political acumen, listening skills, empathy, and organizational curiosity.
- Learning to tolerate uncertainty.
- Cultivating critical thinking.
- Recognizing strategic issues.
- Prioritizing the long-term.
- Fostering a culture of creativity.
- Having the courage to make bold decisions and assume their consequences (positive or negative).
- Mobilizing teams around a strategic vision. »
The eight steps to strengthen your strategic leadership
- Identifying key objectives and making ‘big picture’ choices: Every leader faces the ongoing risk of getting lost by trying to do too many things. The life of an entrepreneur/leader is filled with gambles: Tesla has taken many and succeeded in numerous. Video game publishing companies regularly take them as well, and to better understand this concept of a gamble, I recommend reading ‘The Dream Architects,‘ which discusses the tough decisions to be made before committing several years to develop a game.
- Building multiple scenarios: In an unpredictable and volatile environment (VUCA squared!) such as the crisis we’re facing, developing different responses or possible solutions helps prepare for potential changes, even if these alternatives aren’t the ones likely to occur… The key is to anticipate! ‘Life is what happens when you are busy making plans,’ as John Lennon once said.
- Rely on strengths or, even better, excellence: Utilizing your skills and talents to the fullest rather than trying to strengthen your weaknesses is crucial. This applies to your teams as well! The most effective way to enhance efficiency when developing a new activity or product is to better train/guide your talents internally or, if necessary, recruit the most qualified individuals from your competitors in their respective fields.
Knowing how to leverage others’ talents: The skill of a strategic leader lies in using the potential of others, which they must identify, catalyze, and develop, so that everyone’s intelligence contributes to a common project.
- Engage = involve: Strengthen co-construction with your peers to generate the buy-in/commitment of your teams. Communicate your vision and strategy regularly and persistently, being clear about what needs to be done and what shouldn’t be done. Pierre Nanterme succeeded in making his transformation discourse for Accenture very clear in 5 letters: Interactivity, Mobility, Analytics, Cloud, and Security (or ‘IMACS’)
- Building alliances: relying on partners is crucial, even if it’s not always simple, as seen in the cases of Apple or Samsung. A leader needs allies. It’s a prerequisite for their communication to be disseminated throughout all levels of the company. Thus, they must build the right ecosystem and strengthen relationships with their allies to collectively move towards a shared goal. An alliance works only when several individuals or groups have a common objective! Allies also serve to shield the leader from negative coalitions, alerting them in advance so they can prepare to announce their strategy under the best conditions and stand a better chance at countering their detractors.
- Powerful ideas come during downtime: A leader held hostage by their schedule cannot free up the cognitive resources needed to stay above the fray. Their mind remains cluttered with details, preventing them from focusing on the future and weak signals. Leaders must safeguard their schedule at all costs, take the time to stay informed, and maintain leisure time for revitalizing activities, such as engaging in sports, much like Tim Cook, who hits the gym at 5 a.m. Similar to Richard Branson or Oprah Winfrey, Tim Cook has stated that morning exercise is one of the keys to his success.
- Reintroduce measured risk: Many companies, driven by the demand for predictable cash flow, have developed a true aversion to risk. Simultaneously, the emphasis on pleasing the boss has made management rigid, and leaders spend too much time trying to satisfy top management. Do you have a ‘court jester’ around you, the archetype of someone who challenges you and expresses disagreement?
Placing the customer back at the center of concerns and taking measured risks is crucial for success: acquiring small companies, poaching talents, granting them the freedom to reposition themselves, embracing unconventional personalities – all of this is part of the strategy for success, as demonstrated by Netflix’s expansion into production and Ubisoft’s acquisition of Massive, one of Activision Blizzard’s crown jewels, officially up for sale.
- Agility: Regularly revising/reassessing one’s strategy and questioning the initial plan to adapt or modify it is crucial, as is the ability to navigate between the short and long term, because nothing is ever guaranteed in advance, and unforeseen events are not always manageable with tried and tested methods or means.
In summary, the role of a leader involves being heavily solicited, and the risk lies in falling into the trap of dispersion by trying to address too many objectives simultaneously. This can result in diluting the company’s energy across a multitude of sometimes conflicting goals. The mission of the strategic leader is therefore to ensure daily and long-term strategic clarity, with appropriate behaviors and discourse.
And you, how much time do you spend each week contemplating these questions:
- How much time did I dedicate to my strategic matters last week?
- How much time do I plan to allocate to my strategic matters next week?
- What do I need to change next week to allocate sufficient time?
- Have I communicated enough about my strategy? To whom?
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