Strategy, Putting Leadership In It

“The need to...

create   and   re-create   reasons

for   a   company’s    continued   existence

...sets the strategist apart from every other individual in the company. He or she must keep one eye on how the company is currently adding value and the other eye on changes, both inside and outside the company, that either threaten its position or present some new opportunity for adding value.”

The strategist is “…the guardian of organizational purpose,…bringing it to the center time and time again, even as the center itself evolves…Keeping all the parts of a company in proper balance while moving the enterprise forward…”

Excerpted from “Putting Leadership Back into Strategy” by Cynthia A. Montgomery (Harvard Business Review, 2008)