Leaders who want to succeed in this complex and fast-paced business environment need to have clarity about what this whole new world is going to look like and what their company’s place in that world is going to be. But what is more important: strategy or the execution of that strategy?
This requires highly strategic leaders—real visionaries who can step back from the day-to-day, see where the world is headed, and understand how value can be created in the future in ways that are different from today.
But being a good strategist isn’t enough. Leaders need to be equally skilled at execution. They need to own the transformation of the company that is needed to reach that future.
They need to translate strategy into specific action steps and see things through to the end. Leaders need to be able to make rapid operational decisions along the way that help deliver that successful path to the future.
Becoming a strategic executioner is one of the strengths in the Six Paradoxes of Leadership described in Blair H. Sheppard’s book Ten Years to Midnight: Four urgent global crises and their strategic solutions. I just finished it, and it gets into some really heavy subjects around global crises, but when you get past those subjects, the lessons on leadership are quite good.
If you have the somewhat rare talent of being strong at strategy AND have impressive quantifiable achievements by executing that strategy, you should be paid in the top 30% of executives at your level. If you doubt you are, then it might make sense for us to talk. I can fill you in on the current executive job market landscape and your marketability in the job market outside of your current company.
