Strategic Leadership

Strategic Leadership:

The Essential Skills

by Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Steve Krupp,

and Samantha Howland

Managing yourself

The storied British banker and

financier Nathan Rothschild noted

that great fortunes are made when

cannonballs fall in the harbor, not when

violins play in the ballroom. Rothschild

understood that the more unpredictable

the environment, the greater the opportunity—

if you have the leadership skills

to capitalize on it. Through research at

the Wharton School and at our consulting

firm involving more than 20,000 executives

to date, we have identified six skills

that, when mastered and used in concert,

Illustration: Kelly Blair

allow leaders to think strategically and

navigate the unknown effectively: the

abilities to anticipate, challenge, interpret,

decide, align, and learn. Each has received

attention in the leadership literature, but

usually in isolation and seldom in the

special context of high stakes and deep

uncertainty that can make or break both

companies and careers. This article describes

the six skills in detail. An adaptive

strategic leader—someone who is both

resolute and flexible, persistent in the face

of setbacks but also able to react strategically

to environmental shifts—has learned

to apply all six at once.

Do you have the right networks to help

you see opportunities before competitors

do? Are you comfortable challenging your

own and others’ assumptions? Can you

get a diverse group to buy in to a common

vision? Do you learn from mistakes? By

answering questions like these, you’ll get

a clear view of your abilities in each area.

The self-test at this article’s end (and the

more detailed test available online) will

help you gauge your strengths and weaknesses,

address deficits, and optimize your

full portfolio of leadership skills.

Let’s look at each skill in turn.

Anticipate

Most organizations and leaders are poor at

detecting ambiguous threats and opportunities

on the periphery of...