Is Your Leadership Aligned or an Illusion & How to Bridge the Strategy Gap?
Why Most CEOs Fail to Implement Real Strategic Principles and What We Can Do About It?
Non-members can read this story here. I also published a version for my followers on Medium.
Dear tech and leadership enthusiasts, as a long-term researcher of technical leadership and excellence, one of my hobbies is to explore fresh voices and unique perspectives from thought leaders from different cultures. While browsing my reading feed today, I came across and article with a beautifully narrated voice.
The title of article instantly attracted my attention “Close the Gap: Align Your Leadership with the Company’s Real Strategy” I intuitively knew it would be insightful and it was. Therefore I wanted to share my thoughts about it briefly to give a perspective to my readers and encourage them to explore this thought leader if you are interested in leadership topic.
In his thought-provoking article,
parallels the leadership challenges CEOs face with a cinematic twist, referencing “Shutter Island.”The real takeaway is that leadership strategy often becomes disconnected, much like the protagonist’s false reality. Rosov critiques this gap, highlighting a study by MIT Sloan revealing that only 28% of executives know their company’s strategic priorities.
His article emphasizes the importance of “Central Principles” — clear, actionable guidelines embedded in company culture. CEOs, Rosov argues, must ensure these principles guide daily decisions to truly close the leadership gap.
The insights are a timely reminder for leaders in today’s rapidly evolving business environment. The framework of Central Principles is an effective approach to aligning decision-making with long-term strategic goals, reducing the disconnect between strategy and execution.
My subscribers might wonder how this article relates to technology leadership and excellence, which is the central theme of the newsletter.
From my decades of experience, in technical and technology leadership, strategy alignment is crucial, just as in corporate, government, or academic leadership.
For example, a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) might believe their team understands the overarching technology strategy, but if engineers are not guided by clear principles — like prioritizing automation, scalability, or innovation — the strategy becomes ineffective.
As another example, if a tech company claims to prioritize innovation but doesn’t invest in continuous learning or experimentation, its strategy is just an illusion. The key is ensuring every decision, from architecture design to feature development. implementation, or manage, reflects the core strategic principles.
From my perspective, technical or technology leaders must align strategy with execution by embedding core principles into every technical decision. Without this, even the most well-crafted strategies fall apart.
Technical excellence is achieved not just by innovating, but by ensuring that every engineer, product manager, data scientist, and tech lead is driven by consistent, well-communicated guidelines.
Success hinges on a shared understanding that informs daily operations, from coding standards to long-term technology investments, making strategy a living part of your tech ecosystem.
I believe Close the Gap: Align Your Leadership with the Company’s Real Strategy offers valuable insights to help you integrate leadership with strategy execution, ensuring your organization remains competitive in today’s fast-paced, competitive, and challenging economic climate.
I also noticed that the author explores a wide range of strategic insights in Red and Yellow Strategies: Flip Your Strategic Thinking and Overcome Short-termism, offering practical approaches to long-term strategy development.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life. You can read these types of stories on Technology Excellence and Leadership newsletter.
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Great story about leadership!
Thank you for the mention, really appreciate it :)
I wrote a couple of posts on the topic here on on Medium :)
Many thanks for the mention and for sharing the story!