CEO Failure Mode: The Master Strategist

Part of a potentially endless series on the pitfalls of the CEO role

Ideas are a commodity. Execution of them is not. —Michael Dell

One of the paradoxes at the core of the CEO job is this: You have full responsibility for the outcomes of the organization, but you lack full control over its daily activities.

When faced with the intense burden of responsibility and the lack of control, CEOs usually react in one of two ways:

1. They try to take control wherever they can, or

2. They retreat from the details and disappear into the land of abstraction.

The latter reaction results in the Master Strategist CEO. This kind of leader is totally disengaged in the day-to-day activities of the organization. They see the CEO’s primary value as coming up with a brilliant, gem-like strategy. How that strategy gets applied is of much less interest to them.

The Master Strategist CEO has a great antipathy toward awareness of on-the-ground execution. They figure, “If I can’t control everything, I shouldn’t worry about any of the details.” Sometimes this stems from a simple desire to avoid stress. Other times it’s because they fear being called the worst word in the management book: micromanager.

The Master Strategist CEO believes that once they have revealed the grand strategy, they can sit back and watch. But because they are so removed from what’s actually occurring in the organization, they don’t see a problem developing until it is too late. Then, they blame employees for failing to do the simple things necessary to execute their flawless strategy.

The image that comes to mind whenever I encounter a master strategist at work is one that has been passed around the Internet. A donkey is connected to a cart that has been so overloaded that it tipped backward, leaving the donkey stranded six feet in the air. Master Strategists put all their focus on loading the cart. When the donkey is left stranded—when employees are unable to execute the strategy because the CEO has abandoned other responsibilities—the CEO’s first reaction is to blame the donkey!

Master Strategist Profile

• Work style: Highly conceptual thinker who prefers abstract ideas to concrete details. Prefers “thinking” to “doing.”

• Preferred time scale: Comfortable with lengthy planning horizons but stressed out by day-to-day operations.

• Background: Often have little operational experience or time spent in functions like sales. May have background in consulting (perhaps with a firm that glorified the strategy-creation function) or have an academic bent.

• DISC type: Master Strategists are found in all DISC types, but Influence proclivities often align with this failure mode—primarily the distaste for details.

• How employees see them: Out of touch, unaware, sitting in their ivory tower while others work.

• Evil Twin: The Total Control CEO, who reacts to the CEO’s full responsibility with lack of control by trying to forcibly seize control over every aspect of the company. More on this failure mode in a future post.

If You Think You’re a Master Strategist…

There is hope. Here are a few pointers for rebalancing your approach to the CEO job:

• Use 90-day sprints. Master Strategists must be ruthless with themselves when it comes to sticking to quarterly goal setting. Three to seven measurable company goals for the quarter, revisited weekly in executive team meetings, and declared Achieved or Not Achieved at the end of the quarter.

• Consider a chief of staff. A strategic chief of staff can help cover your execution blind spots and support you in linking strategy to action. If you’re a CEO and would like to be connected with a chief of staff, message me.

• Walk the shop floor. Figuratively of course. But talk to people in the organization who are implementing your grand strategy. First, do they even know what the strategy is? Second, how is it going? What are their roadblocks and frustrations?

Do you want to see a certain CEO failure mode covered? Tell me in the comments.