Leadership: Research Findings, Practice and Skills, 4th Edition Andrew J.

DuBrin Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company

 Describe the nature of strategic leadership Explain how to use the SWOT model to assist in strategic planning Identify a number of current business strategies Describe how leaders contribute to the management of knowledge and the learning organization

 A key leadership role is to form a strategy

Deals with the major purposes of the organization or organizational unit Usually the province of top management

 Strategic leadership
The process of providing the direction and inspiration necessary to create, to provide direction to, or to sustain an organization

Strategic management
The process of ensuring competitive fit between the organization and its environment

 Strategic leadership is a complex of:

Personal characteristics Thinking patterns Effective management

All centered on the ability to think strategically

 Thinking strategically requires high-level cognitive skills

Think conceptually Absorb and make sense of multiple trends Condense information into straightforward plan of action

 Systems thinking
Ability to process information and understand its consequences for the organization in its interaction with the environment

 Strategic leaders often thought of as mystics

Work independently Conjure up great schemes for the future

 Many strategic leaders arrive at ideas for the future by consulting with wide range of interested parties
Process similar to conducting research to create a vision

 Major component of leadership is direction setting

Anticipating and creating a future for the organization Tell the organization what it should be doing

 To set a productive direction leaders must accurately anticipate the future

A truly visionary leader anticipates a future that many people think wont come to pass

 Creating a future is a more forceful approach than anticipation

With participation leader creates conditions that do not already exist Asks questions about shape of the industry in five to ten years Recognizes the skills and capabilities needed now to shape the future

 Creating the future has been conceptualized as reinventing an industry

 An effective leader thinks in revolutionary terms

Ferrets out revolutionary ideas harbored in the firm

What constitutes a revolutionary idea is, however, subjective

Key component of strategy is deliberately choosing to be different

 Seven identifiable factors

Involving far-reaching strategic planning Involving sharing with others Involving innovative realism General Detailed Including risk taking Profit-oriented

 Strategic planning encompasses those activities that lead to the statement of goals and objectives and the choice of strategy Strategic planning often takes the form of a SWOT analysis

 Represents an effort to examine the interaction between the particular characteristics of an organization or organizational unit and the external environment The four components of SWOT analysis include: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

 Strengths
Favorable location, talented workers, state-of-the-art equipment

Weaknesses
Unfavorable location, outdated equipment, limited capital

 Opportunities
Culturally diverse customer base, changes in technology, deregulation

Threats
E-commerce, declining market, new competitors

 Corporate-level strategy asks, What business are we in? Business-level strategy asks, How do we compete? Functional-level strategy asks, How do we support the business-level strategy?

Differentiation Cost leadership Focus High quality Imitation Strategic alliances Growth through acquisition

High speed and first-mover strategy Global diversification Sticking to core competencies Brand leadership Conducting business on the Internet Peoplepalooza (competitive advantage through hiring talented people)

 Knowledge management is the systematic sharing of information to achieve such goals

Innovation, nonduplication of effort, and competitive advantage

 A learning organization is one that is skilled at:

Creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge Modifying behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights

Source: Knowledge Management User Survey 97, Copyright 1997 Delphi Group (www.delphigroup.com), p. 14, as adapted and published in Michael Hickins, Xerox Shares its Knowledge, Management Review, September 1999, p. 42.

Create a strategic intent to learn Create a shared vision Develop systems thinking Encourage personal mastery of the job

Encourage team learning Encourage action learning Learn from failure Encourage continuous experimentation Encourage creative thinking

 Strategic leadership deals with the major purposes of an organization or organizational unit Five important components of strategic leadership include high-level cognitive ability, multiple inputs to strategy formulation, anticipating and creating a future, revolutionary thinking, and creation of a vision

 Strategic planning often takes the form of a SWOT analysis Strategic leaders use many different types of business strategies Leaders must help their organizations adapt to the environment by taking initiatives to create a learning organization