Strategic Minds

A recent article by Yves Doz and Keeley Wilson, published online in INSEAD (READ IT HERE) advocates strongly for strengthening the link between strategy-making and governance. They note that boards are often comprised of directors with skills, knowledge, and experience, but who frequently lack a strategic mindset. But when such leaders develop “strategic minds, they can serve as effective guardians of a company’s future framing purpose, setting strategic direction, and stimulating ambitious strategic intent.”

Drawing on both research and experience, the authors note eight key traits they believe underpin a strategic mind:

1. Cognitive flexibility – the skill to move beyond the current context.
2. Non-linear thinking – moving away from sequential thinking to a more systems thinking approach.
3. Handling ambiguity – a high tolerance for competing points of view, contradictory inputs, and complexity.
4. Tackling hard problems – leaning into rather than staying away from difficult problems.
5. Big picture – drawn to and influenced by the big picture more so than isolated events.
6. Consumate questioners – asking questions to broaden understanding, challenge biases, and help others see new threats and opportunities.
7. Mindfulness and sense-making – able to translate abstract ideas and perceptions into actionable frameworks that make sense to the rest of the organisation.
8. Self-awareness – able to not fall victim to the dominant logic of a company and to challenge one’s worldview and assumptions.

Taking steps to intentionally develop a strategic mindset means “directors can become effective custodians of a company’s future and drivers of its strategic direction.”