In the May 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review, Michael J. Critelli, the Chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes, reflects on strategy. There are a couple of quotes worth pulling out, and both focus on the role of the leader in building a more strategic organization. The first quote:
“My strategic responsibility to the company is to ensure that the thinking is being done and that actions are taken as a result.”
He actually created a position in the organization, reporting directly to him, who is charged specifically with “anticipating the future.” Granted, he has a large organization, so most associations are not going to run out and hire a “chief strategy officer,” but I rarely hear association Chief Executives say that their responsibility is to ensure thinking and action. What are you doing to ensure that strategic thinking is happening at all levels of your organization? And how do you know if anyone is taking action based on this strategic thinking?
Critelli is talking about a breed of leadership that I think might be a bit too unfamiliar in associations. As he says in the second quote,
“More than being a motivational or charismatic leader, I think my strength lies in altering the terms of the debate and getting people to think about how the game could be changed. If I can bring in different frameworks, new lenses, and fresh vocabulary to help spring people from their entrenched mental models, that may help us to innovate in strategically creative ways.”
I think association executives sometimes become overburdened with being “in charge.” Since they are responsible for performance, they invest their time and energy into the details of getting things done. With small staffs, obviously, that may be required to some extent, but there are some serious limits to growth in that approach. What if you could devote your energy to liberating all the energy in your organization that is currently trapped in people who are waiting for you to tell them what to do?
Reactions?
