Mindset shifts: Letting go of control and reclaiming curiosity
The most significant challenge in becoming a strategic leader is not acquiring new tools but releasing long-held assumptions about what effective leadership looks like. Operational roles often reward control, precision and subject-matter expertise. Strategic leadership, by contrast, requires comfort with ambiguity, the ability to think across longer timeframes, and a systems-level perspective that connects individual actions to broader organisational outcomes.
Herminia Ibarra (2015), writing on leadership identity development, argues that leaders must “act their way into a new way of thinking.” Strategic leadership involves this kind of behavioural experimentation. Usually this is about stepping into uncertain territory before full clarity emerges. Rather than focusing solely on solving immediate problems, strategic leaders create meaning, shape direction, and enable alignment across increasingly complex systems.
This shift changes how leaders deliver value. It is less about personal delivery and more about enabling others. Strategic leaders scan for early signals, connect insights across functions, and design environments in which others can succeed. As London Business School research suggests, these leaders invest as much in perspective-taking as they do in performance (Ibarra & Obodaru, 2009).
Behavioural changes: From doing to enabling
As scope and complexity increase, strategic leaders must become more behaviourally agile. Schoemaker, Krupp and Howland (2013), writing in Harvard Business Review, identify six essential skills for strategic leadership, including the ability to manage competing tensions such as decisiveness and reflection, or advocacy and inquiry. This behavioural versatility is not reactive but grounded in purpose and situational judgement.
The shift from execution to influence means that strategic leaders must also learn to shape outcomes they cannot fully control. McKinsey & Company (2023) emphasise that effective leaders build adaptive systems that foster distributed decision-making, cross-functional collaboration and collective ownership. These behaviours allow leaders to generate momentum even when outcomes are uncertain or dependent on others.
This approach requires confidence and restraint. Leaders must resist the urge to offer solutions when their role is to create conditions for others to lead. Behavioural agility is grounded in self-awareness and a clear organisational purpose, allowing for alignment and coherence across complexity.
Organisational demands: Leading in complexity
Strategic leadership is increasingly shaped by the realities of modern organisations, which operate as complex adaptive systems. McKinsey & Company (2021) describe this as a shift from controlling systems to navigating ecosystems. In such contexts, the ability to influence outcomes without direct authority becomes essential.
Strategic leaders must operate across both formal and informal networks, working laterally to build alignment. They must understand the interplay between cultural, economic, technological and human factors when making decisions. As Sadun, Hansen and Piezunka (2023) note in Harvard Business Review, the most effective senior leaders focus less on execution and more on sense-making, context-framing and long-term value creation.
This is not about abandoning clarity or control, but about applying them selectively. Strategic leaders maintain momentum by creating trust, aligning stakeholders and communicating a clear sense of direction. Their impact lies not in their ability to manage every detail, but in their capacity to adapt with integrity and lead through uncertainty.
Action Point
How might you assess whether your leadership approach is strategic or operational?
Reflect on a recent leadership situation and evaluate whether your actions demonstrated flexibility, systems thinking, and influence, or whether they leaned more towards structure, control, and habit. Identify one way you can shift your focus from managing processes to shaping direction. This could involve scanning external trends or fostering cross-functional alignment.