Not just the work you’re good at or feel comfortable doing
Almost every time I come up with an idea for a new book, my writing partner Rasmus Ankersen says, “You’re just in love with the title.”
He knows that it’s the creative concept development of a book that I enjoy the most—and maybe also what I’m best at. But he also knows that a catchy title and a clever book idea are far from enough to guarantee a bestseller.
As business leaders, it’s similarly easy to be drawn to leadership practices where we feel most comfortable and “look our best.”
If a leader is more operations-focused than visionary or innovative, there’s a tendency to reduce strategy work to a simple action plan.
While targeted actions are, of course, essential for progress, there’s a risk of overlooking the company’s most critical challenges and opportunities if strategic analysis, reflection, and development are replaced by straightforward, action-oriented bullet points.
Conversely, if you see yourself as a full-fledged entrepreneur, you may end up making constant changes within the organization, launching new brands, or developing new products every quarter.
Although innovation is a crucial driver of continuous progress for any business, it can send a company in too many different directions and compromise the stability needed to achieve solid financial results if not balanced with sufficient strategic focus.
If, as a leader, you’re overly concerned about meeting board or external expectations, you might limit yourself to short-term and realistic goals.
In doing so, you miss out on the catalytic effect of aiming for bold, ambitious goals that demand extraordinary effort to achieve. Small goals tend to only inspire mediocre efforts and yield relatively modest results.
What About You and Your Leadership?
Is it more important that you look good, or that your company receives the strategy needed to unlock its growth potential?
There’s no need to try to be the superhero who knows everything about everything and has solutions for every challenge.
Employees respect, above all, honest leaders who prioritize doing what’s right for the company, even if it means exposing some of their own limitations.
Everyone knows that a strong leader isn’t necessarily the one who knows the most about strategy, but rather the one who seeks out the most qualified strategic advice.
Similarly, the best leader isn’t always the most innovative, but rather the one who can best facilitate and foster innovation.
And so on.
Make sure to fall in love with the leadership work that truly moves the needle for your company.
In the end, this approach is also what will move the needle for you as a leader.
