Executives must make strategic thinking a part of their jobs

In a 10-year longitudinal study of over 2,700 newly appointed executives by Ron Carucci and Eric Hansen, 67 per cent respondents said they struggled with letting go of work from previous roles

In a 10-year longitudinal study of over 2,700 newly appointed executives by Ron Carucci and Eric Hansen of consulting firm Navalent, 67 per cent respondents said they struggled with letting go of work from previous roles. Fifty-eight per cent said they were expected to know details about work they believed were beneath their level, and more than half felt they were involved in decisions those below them should be making. This suggests the problem of too little strategic leadership may be as much a function of doing as of thinking, Carucci wrote in a recent Harvard Business Review article. Rich Horwath, CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute, found in his research that 44 per cent of managers spent most of their time firefighting in cultures that rewarded reactivity and discouraged thoughtfulness, Carucci said. He outlined three ways to help executives shift their roles to assume the appropriate strategic focus — identify the strategic requirements of your job; uncover patterns to focus resource investments; and invite dissent to build others’ commitment.