The Strategic Leadership Star:

Abstract

Describes the Strategic Leadership Star, which provides a logical framework which unifies the myriad of tools and techniques that are proliferating under the TQM “umbrella”, change‐management practice and modern strategic thinking. The central focus of all of these is superior performance in the creation of “value to the customer”. Consequently, customer value lies at the heart of the star. The first three points of the star – “define your purpose”, “face the customer” and “focus on essentials” ‐cover tools and techniques related to strategy formulation. These include vision, intent, mission, process streams, core competences and capabilities. The final two points ‐“create a challenge” and “trigger enthusiasm” – relate to strategy implementation. They lead back to the first point, fulfilment of the fundamental purpose, through such things as: stretch, creative tension, benchmarking, systems thinking and transforming leadership. Thus, the Strategic Leadership Star looks at strategy making from a leadership perspective. Strategic leadership requires equal attention to both path‐finding and culture‐building. This means that, in performing the strategic leadership role, strategy formulation and strategy implementation are no longer sequential and separate but are subsumed in the complementary leadership activities of strategic leadership. By following the star – i.e. using it as a daily guide to behaviour – the management of an organization would simultaneously be performing their strategic leadership role and ensuring its strategic success.