Leadership is of course epitomied by the act of leading. To lead one must have followers, and followers are the most effective and efficient when they know the course, the direction, the strategy. The classic example is the captain of a ship; if he decides on a course and sticks with it, everyone knows their roles. If he constantly changes, then all the followers get confused as to what their next action should be.
Creating a sound but not necessarily brilliant strategy that is relentlessly executed beats a constantly changing (and therefore doomed to poor execution) search for perfection. We'll call that perfect strategy true North. There’s not an executive in the free world who doesn’t at least say he has a strategy. Most of them actually have one, of sorts. It may even be a good one. After all, what is a strategy but a description of a company’s problems and opportunities along with what it takes to solve them? But the creation of a strategy, whether brilliant or not, is only one small step.
So after considering all the necessary factors, determining a sound strategy and getting it to the “good enough” stage. get on with it. Don’t get bogged down by the worries of this or that issue; work them out as you go. This is your Northwest Strategy. Everyone (management, directors, owners and security analysts) knows it’s not perfect. Hopefully everyone also knows it’s virtually impossible to have a perfect strategy. But if the course is sound, it makes sense, it contains no non-starters, it fits with the communal knowledge of the various stakeholders, it is describable and communicable, and it creates purpose and eliminates distractions, you and your business will be a winner.
See more on this facet of leadership at http://www.boldexec.com/boldexec/decisive_action_trumps_perfection/index.html
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