I asked senior leaders and executives what they felt their first-line and mid-level leaders most needed to learn, understand, and practice.
Every one of them said the same thing.
~ strategic thinking ~
No question: understanding strategy, how to envision and plan for the future, is an essential leadership skill.
These days, with so much in flux (Omicron variant, anyone?), it’s even more essential.
And even harder.
Strategic thinking requires some sense of being able to predict what will happen – in the marketplace, in your industry, in your employee population, and so on.
Yet if the last two – and maybe five or six! – years have shown us anything, it’s that the future is uncertain and startling events will come out of nowhere, when we least expect it. (We kind of already knew this, but we also kind of hate to admit it. We have really no choice now, though many are still trying to convince themselves that the “old normal” will return.)
We don’t know what the pandemic variants are going to do.
We don’t know what climate change is going to do.
We don’t know how to manage the supply chain, with all the other changes impacting consumer behavior.
And we don’t know how to hire, engage, develop, and keep our best people in this decidedly new world of work. (Too many executives are making decisions without asking their people. That’s a big oops, folks.)
So … care to predict?
Care to develop a strategic plan?
Of course you have to. For yourself and your career, for your team and your people, for your company and your customers, you have to.
Here’s my prediction: the leaders who talk to their people, who admit they don’t have all the answers, who explore options within – despite – the uncertainty: those are the leaders who will succeed, as individuals, with their teams, and for their customers.
Want some help with that? Let’s talk.