From Perfection to Progress: Strategies for Leaders to Thrive (Perfectionism Series 2/3)

June 23, 2026 Regina Zafonte

Knowing that perfectionism is costly is one thing. The harder challenge is knowing what to do instead.

In the first article of this series, we explored what perfectionism actually is, where it takes root, and the real costs it creates — for leaders, their teams, and the cultures they shape. This article is about the turn: the practical, evidence-based strategies that help leaders shift from rigid, exhausting standards to what psychologist Dr. Brené Brown calls "healthy striving" — a pursuit of excellence that is energizing rather than depleting, adaptive rather than rigid, and grounded in growth rather than fear.

None of these strategies require you to abandon your standards. They require you to become smarter about which standards to hold, when to hold them, and how.

Let’s explore Strategies for dealing with perfectionism:

1. Differentiate High-Stakes from Low-Stakes Work. Not every task deserves 100% of your effort — and the perfectionist impulse to give everything that same level of attention is one of the primary drivers of burnout. The shift here is strategic prioritization.

Ask yourself: Where does my highest standard actually create the most value? A board presentation, a high-visibility client deliverable, a decision with long-term organizational consequences — these warrant your full investment. A routine internal update, a first draft shared for directional feedback, a process document that will be revised anyway — these don't.

Defining what "good enough" looks like for lower-impact work isn't lowering the bar. It's making a deliberate choice about where your energy creates the greatest return. The leaders who do this well free up the cognitive and emotional bandwidth to do truly exceptional work where it counts — rather than spreading their best self across everything equally and arriving at everything depleted.

2. Build a New Relationship with Failure. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Thomas Edison is said to have made over a thousand attempts before the lightbulb worked. These aren't just motivational anecdotes — they're windows into the mindset that separates high achievers from perfectionists.

Perfectionists experience failure as personal indictment. High performers experience it as data. The reframe isn't easy, but it's learnable: failure is not the opposite of success — it's part of the process.

One framework I use in coaching is the concept of a "failure quota" — a deliberate, pre-defined willingness to get some things wrong in the service of trying new things and growing. When leaders set an expectation that a certain number of experiments will fail, failure stops feeling like a crisis and starts feeling like evidence that they're operating at the edge of their capability. That edge is precisely where growth lives.

3. Redefine Excellence on Your Own Terms. One of the most persistent problems with perfectionism is that it chases a standard that can never be fully defined — and therefore can never be fully reached. Shifting to a definition of excellence grounded in improvement and mastery changes the game entirely.

Instead of asking "Is this perfect?" start asking: Is this better than it was? Did I learn something? Am I making progress toward mastery? Tracking incremental growth — keeping a file of wins, milestones, and experiments — makes excellence visible in a way that perfectionism rarely does. Perfectionists often struggle to celebrate progress because they're always measuring against the ideal. Leaders who track growth learn to recognize and build on what's working.

4. Unbundle Your Perfectionist Traits. Perfectionism is rarely all liability. Inside it, there are genuine strengths — attention to detail, high standards, care about quality, commitment to doing things right. The work isn't to eliminate those qualities. It's to separate them from the limiting behaviors they're bundled with.

Diligence is an asset. Paralysis is not. High standards are an asset. Fear of mistakes is not. Attention to detail is an asset. Inability to delegate because no one else will get it "right" is not.

Name both sides honestly: What aspects of your perfectionist tendencies make you a better leader? What aspects limit you? Keep the former. Build strategies to address the latter. This is the kind of nuanced self-awareness that separates excellent leaders from chronically exhausted ones.

5. Cultivate Gratitude and Seek Focused Feedback. Perfectionism narrows attention to what's missing, what's flawed, what still needs work. Gratitude deliberately widens that lens. Leaders who build even a simple gratitude practice — pausing at the end of the week to name what went well, what they're proud of, who contributed meaningfully — begin to notice a shift in how they experience their own work and their teams'.

On feedback: perfectionism often leads to two dysfunctional extremes — either avoiding feedback entirely (because it might confirm the worst fears) or soliciting so much feedback that implementation becomes impossible. A more sustainable approach is focused feedback: one or two specific, actionable questions, directed at people whose judgment you trust, at meaningful intervals. Feedback that's targeted and timely helps perfectionists grow without overwhelming the system.

The Mindset Underneath the Strategies

These strategies work best when they're grounded in a deeper shift: from a fixed, outcome-oriented identity (I am only as good as my last result) to a growth-oriented one (I am always learning, and progress is the point).

Carol Dweck's research on growth mindset is directly relevant here. Fixed mindset leaders treat ability as static, effort as a sign of weakness, and failure as a permanent verdict. Growth mindset leaders treat ability as developable, effort as the path, and failure as feedback. Perfectionism is a fixed mindset operating at full intensity — and the antidote is not to lower standards, but to hold them differently.

Leaders who make this shift don't become less ambitious. They become more effective — because they've freed up enormous amounts of energy previously spent defending against imperfection, and redirected it toward doing, learning, and leading.

Reflection Question: What would change in your work — and in how your team experiences you — if you focused on progress and growth rather than flawless results? Comment and share below — we'd love to hear from you.

Quote of the day: "Perfection is the enemy of progress." — Winston Churchill

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to work on any derailing behaviors that are not serving them, contact me to explore this topic further.

The next blog in this series (3/3) will focus on what companies can do to foster a culture based on progress over perfectionism.

The Power of Vision in Leadership (Leadership Brand Series 3/6)

January 21, 2025 Regina Zafonte

Purpose defines why you do what you do, but vision clarifies where you’re going. A powerful vision gives direction, solves problems, and inspires people to rally behind you. It’s the picture of the future you want to create—one that is bold, exciting, and serves as a roadmap for the next two to five years and beyond. In leadership, a clear and compelling vision isn’t just about achieving goals; it’s about sparking possibilities and inspiring those around you to move forward with purpose.

What Makes a Vision Compelling? Here are a few characteristics:

1. Clear and Concise. Like Disney’s “to make people happy” or Instagram’s “capture and share the world’s moments,” a vision statement should be simple and memorable. If it’s strong, you should be able to ask five people about it, and each of them will repeat it back to you with ease.

2. Bold and Inspiring. Vision statements should create excitement about the future. Take Patagonia's mission "to save our home planet." This powerful statement goes beyond selling apparel, reflecting a commitment to environmental stewardship and inspiring employees and customers to join in a meaningful cause.

3. Focused on Positive Impact. Vision is most powerful when it addresses the intangible values people care about, such as building community, creating a sustainable planet, or fostering innovation. It should make a difference not only for the leader or the organization but also for the broader community.

Developing Your Personal and Professional Vision

Vision setting begins with clarity around your own aspirations. Here’s how you can build a vision that aligns with both personal fulfillment and professional growth:

1. Imagine Where You Want to Be in 2-5 Years. Ask yourself: Where do you see yourself personally and professionally in the next few years? If you could wave a magic wand and achieve everything you wanted, how would your career, relationships, and personal life look? These questions help to create a vision that is future-focused and inspiring.

2. Focus on Impact and Contribution. A strong vision centers on more than personal success; it focuses on positive impact. Consider how your vision could contribute to others—whether it’s building a team known for innovation, creating a product that changes lives, or setting an example of authentic leadership.

3. Craft a Vision Statement. Once you’ve identified where you want to go and how you want to make an impact, write a clear and concise statement that reflects this. It should be short enough to remember but powerful enough to guide decisions. For instance, a personal vision might be: “To lead by example, fostering a culture of growth, empathy, and excellence in everything I do.”

4. Revisit and Refine Your Vision Regularly. Vision isn’t static; it can and should evolve as you grow and adapt to new experiences. Revisit your vision periodically to ensure it still aligns with your purpose and goals and adjust as needed.

Building a Team Vision

In addition to personal and professional vision, effective leaders need a team vision. A team vision aligns everyone toward a common future, uniting diverse goals and creating a shared sense of purpose. Here’s how to create a vision that resonates:

1. Identify the Team’s Unique Purpose. Think about what makes your team unique. What problems are you uniquely positioned to solve? Consider how your team’s contributions can add value to the larger organization and positively impact those you serve.

2. Envision the Ideal Future State. If everything went perfectly for your team over the next two to three years, what would be different? Imagine how you’d want others to describe your team’s reputation. For example, “To be known as the go-to team for innovative solutions that drive customer success.”

3. Involve Your Team in the Vision-Setting Process. A vision that is created in isolation may not resonate. Engage your team members by asking for their ideas and feedback. When they contribute to the vision, they’re more likely to be excited about and committed to it.

4. Communicate the Vision Regularly. An inspiring vision needs to be shared, often and enthusiastically. Talk about it in team meetings, one-on-one check-ins, and even casual conversations. This keeps it top-of-mind and demonstrates your commitment. Repetition helps ensure everyone is aligned and energized around a common goal.

Vision as a Guiding Light for Strategy and Decision-Making

A vision statement serves as a guiding light for all strategic planning and decision-making. Once your vision is set, you can use it as a framework for prioritizing responsibilities, setting objectives, and focusing efforts. Leaders often face competing demands and limited resources, so a strong vision helps filter what’s essential from what’s merely urgent.

1. Use Vision as a Lens for Strategic Decisions. When making strategic choices, refer to your vision. Ask yourself if the decision aligns with the future state you’ve outlined. If not, it might be a sign to reassess your options.

2. Align Goals with Vision through OKRs. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are an effective way to ensure that team and individual goals are moving toward the vision. When goals and objectives align with the vision, each person’s work contributes meaningfully to the bigger picture.

3. Balance Short- and Long-Term Priorities. Vision requires balancing immediate tasks with long-term goals. While it’s essential to achieve short-term objectives, keep your vision in mind to ensure these tasks build toward your desired future. This long-term perspective can prevent getting sidetracked by day-to-day demands.

A clear and compelling vision for yourself, your profession, and your team can elevate your leadership, providing direction and uniting everyone around shared aspirations. Whether you’re crafting a personal vision for growth, setting a professional vision for impact, or creating a team vision for innovation, remember that vision is a guiding light. When you articulate it well, it inspires, energizes, and brings people along on the journey.

Reflection Question: What is your vision for the next few years, and how will it inspire positive change and impact in those around you? Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

Quote of the day: "The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision." — Helen Keller

The next blog in this series 4/6 will focus on defining success.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to develop their leadership brand, contact me to explore this topic further.

How to Ask for Help (leadership vulnerability 4/5)

October 1, 2024 Regina Zafonte

The previous article discussed the hurdles and rewards of seeking help; this blog will delve into practical scenarios and approaches for asking for assistance effectively.

1. When You Have No Idea What You’re Doing:

1A. Show your work & get clarity. Be sure to do your homework before just asking because if it is something that you can figure out yourself, you want to stay away from those questions. Asking somebody and they look on the internet to find the answer in 30 seconds will show you should have taken that step. Make sure to consider simple options; many people try to break down doors when they have not even checked if it is unlocked.

1B. Start by looking through your available resources – inbox, team folder, and company intranet. You do not need to spend extensive time here, but briefly perusing may get you the correct information. Know your limitations; do not torture yourself for hours or days before getting the help because people value efficiency. Dedicate a reasonable time you want to spend digging into the work yourself. You don’t want your boss to wonder why you did not come to her sooner to get a little help that would have unblocked and expedited the whole process. Also, if you try to do it yourself when you have no idea, it can turn out wrong, and you will have wasted your time.

When you do ask for help because you have no idea, you can share with them where you looked and what you tried so you are viewed as being resourceful. You can say, “I’ve explored our resources and consulted with Sam but I still have questions. I would love to get more clarity on the details of the XYZ project. Could we set a time to sit down, talk through the nuts and bolts of this assignment, and make sure we’re on the same page?”

2. When You Have Too Much on Your Plate. It happens to the best of us. You say yes to every project because you want to be helpful, and now you’re completely buried. You’ve reached your limit, and you know there’s no way you’ll finish everything by the deadline, even if you pulled all-nighters for the next three weeks. Request some assistance from your other coworkers. You may feel like you’re shirking responsibility. But everyone has been in this situation at least once in their life. You can say, “I don’t like feeling like I’m trying to pass off work, but I’m swamped. If you have any extra time, would you mind helping me with the XYZ aspect of this project or “I know that’s your area of expertise; Would you mind lending a hand or providing guidance?”

3. When You Made a Mistake. Mistakes are inevitable; when they happen, do not try to cover them up and hope nobody will notice. If you need help fixing your slip-up, approach the appropriate people immediately. Mistakes can be meaningful learning experiences, and you build skills when you work with colleagues to resolve such issues. Asking for help when you make a mistake can also help you develop problem-solving strategies. “I made an error on the report on this project. Can you assist me in rectifying it? Your expertise would be invaluable.”

4. When You Need Additional Expertise or Insight. So, if you’re working on a projectyou think could greatly benefit from the additional input of your co-workers, do not hesitate to ask them to lend their advice and talents. It fosters collaboration among your team members and helps make your project the best it can be. You can say, “I’m working on XYZ project, and I’d love your expert insight into this area. Can we set up a time to chat and bounce ideas off each other? I think your input could take this project to the next level!”

4A. Contextualize Your Inquiry When Possible. Instead of asking, how do I complete this form, you can ask, “I know there has been a change in some processes lately, is this the correct form to complete for this engagement?”

4B. Prepare Solutions and Attempts. Your coworkers and supervisors may be more likely to help you if you have tried to resolve the issue and have some possible solutions you can try. Doing so shows that you have been attempting to manage the challenge independently, giving your colleagues a place to start when they offer suggestions. Having these prepared as you approach your colleagues for assistance also shows your competence and problem-solving skills while giving them insight into your issue.

4C. Offer Options with Recommendations. If the question is subjective about what to do next or the best approach, and there are no right or wrong answers, only better or worse approaches, instead of asking open-ended questions, such as what do you suggest, you can provide a menu for them to react to. For example, “I know this customer has had a pivot and is focused on that. As such, I narrowed the best approach to this campaign as A, B, and C. Here are the pros and cons for each. I recommend A for these reasons. It would be great to get help on the approach.” You can also ask, “Am I thinking about it in the right way, or do you feel differently? Giving them a menu of options enables them to assess your ideas quickly, and, if needed, come up with a few of their own.

Embracing the art of seeking help is a testament to humility and adaptability. By leveraging our peer’s collective knowledge and experience, we foster a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.

Quote of the day: "It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to admit that you don't know all the answers." - John P. Kotter

Question: What strategies have you found most effective in seeking support? Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their communication, contact me to explore this topic further.

The next blog in this series 5/5 will focus on top tips to consider when requesting help.

Effective Networking Questions and Frameworks to Further Enhance Your Prowess (networking series 4/4)

August 6, 2024 Regina Zafonte

While the last article focused on how to network effectively, in this installment of our networking series, we delve into the art of small talk and conversational building techniques and talk tracks to prepare for many networking situations.

Small Talk, Big Impact

Many people downplay small talk as a conversation about less important things, often between people who do not know each other well. They trivialize it as surface speak and a time waster. Whether you love or hate it, it might be more important than you think. We mainly do it to scan for topics to find common ground and develop initial rapport. Factual questions such as where you grew up, what you do for fun, or what your family is like allow you to build trust and invite others to go deeper. However, if you are lazy by just speaking about one thing, casually rambling, and asking close-ended questions, you will make people want to walk away from the conversation because it is boring. Examples include, do you like the conference? When is your flight home? If your energy is low, you show the person that you are not into it, and nobody wants that kind of small and low-energy talk.

Topics for Meaningful Conversations: Building Your Toolbox

Here's a curated list of conversation starters and follow-up questions to guide your interactions and keep conversations flowing naturally:

· Location. Where are you based / where is home for you? What is the most interesting thing about your town/city? What do you like best or least about where you live? Have you ever considered living in another place? If they are not from the area they grew up, you can ask what they miss most about home? How did you like growing up there? Where did you grow up? How is it different than where you live now?

· Company Experience. What was your journey through the company? If they are new to the company, you can ask, what did you do beforehand, and what attracted you here? Which mentors or leadership have been most influential in your growth?

· Career. How did you get into your career? Is it much different than what you wanted to do when you were younger? What did you study in school, and how did you decide to study that? What do you love about your career? What’s most exciting about your industry right now? What do you think about doing next in your career?

· Travel. Have you had the opportunity to do some summer (or whatever season) travel yet? Do you have any upcoming travel? What do you like to do or where do you like to eat when you visit this city?

· Food and Drink. What are you drinking? What restaurants would you recommend? What is the signature dish you like to order?

· Sports. What team are you rooting for this year? How did you get into being a fan of this team?

· Hobbies. What do you like to do for fun? What’s been energizing you personally lately? What are some of the things you have been passionate about lately? What keeps you busy outside of work? What are you reading/ watching/ listening to right now that is worth checking out?

· General. What have been some highs and lows for you this year / recently? How do you like spending your weekends?

Common Scenarios and Approaches: Tailoring Your Conversations

1. Following Up After an Online Event. You can reach out to the Speaker or Attendee:

· Send a message on Linkedin with a note. “I enjoyed your talk, especially the point you made about…. Sometimes speakers make a comment that they do not feel is significant, but if it stuck with you for whatever reason, tell them why; it is helpful to know that.

· I appreciated the information/comment you shared; I work in a similar space and would love to connect to chat with you about x. Can I send an email to set up some time to connect?

· Your talk/comment was insightful. I’ve been in the space for a few years and would love to hear about how you overcame the challenge of…

2. Logging on to Zoom before the meeting begins:

· Where are you based? If they bring up something in the news, you can follow up on that. For example, I hear there is more snow than usual in your area, is that affecting you?

· How is the weather near you? Is that common for this time of year?

· What are you all looking forward to this week/month/season?

3. In-person conferences:

· You can ask about what their favorite session was so far. You can ask a follow-up to discover what they learned from it or why it stuck with them. If that was also your favorite, you could discuss the concepts more deeply.

· If they traveled from another city, you could ask where they are coming from, how their flight was, and what is one of the first places they are excited to visit while they are here.

4. Networking Events

· How do you know the event organizer? How did you hear about this event? What brought you here tonight? What are you hoping to get out of this event?

· Have you come to one of these before, and if so, what stood out for you?

5. Asking Somebody to Coffee

· I heard how well your presentation went to the executive board. Can I take you to coffee and learn about what you’ve done in this aspect?

· Everybody is talking about what you did with this customer and this project I’d love to learn more.

6. Requesting Introductions

· You can say, “Who do you know in this organization who is a great teacher or doing an excellent job that you think would be valuable to connect with?”

7. Here is a framework for approaching informational interviews within your company to learn about other opportunities and possibly change teams

· Introductions

o Give your pitch & general information about yourself (what excites you and what are your goals)

o Find out about the person, their team, structure/composition, goals.

· Uncover more details.

o Ask specifically about the things you are interested in. How does your team experience career development? How does your team advance diversity efforts?

· Express interest and have an ask.

o I am interested in what you said about the work your team is doing and the culture you create, I’d love to stay connected. What is the best way to learn about new or upcoming roles?

o If you need assistance; I’d be happy to take on an assignment (if you have the capacity, this is an opportunity for you to stretch your experience and learn more about the team.)

o Is there anybody else you think would be valuable to connect with about this topic / about x, y, or z topic.

8. Here is a framework for developing more robust cross-functional / stakeholder meetings, especially if you just joined the company and are in your 30-day Listening Tour

· Small talks

o How did you get to where you are?

o Where did you grow up, where do you live, and what do you like about where you live?

o What do you like to do outside of work?

· Introductions

o Share your story and hear theirs

· Function-related questions.

o High-level questions to help understand the vision and strategy and find areas to connect

o Specific questions to understand the engineering, data, product, or processes better

· Team Structure

o How is your team structured?

o Who is outsourced, and who is not? How do you pull in resources?

o How do they perform compared to other top teams, and what contributes to their success

· Future direction/alignment

o Where do you see this product going/ what is the alignment?

· Ways of working.

o What is the best way for us to work together going forward?

o What’s the best cadence for us to connect?

By mastering effective networking questions and conversation frameworks, you can elevate your networking approach and unlock many opportunities. Every interaction is a chance to forge meaningful connections and cultivate valuable relationships that can propel your personal and professional growth.

Quote of the day: "Opportunities do not float like clouds in the sky. They're attached to people. If you're looking for an opportunity, you're really looking for a person." - Reid Hoffman.

Question: What’s one of the best questions you have been asked that allowed for a deeper connection? Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their internal and external networking approaches for win-win opportunities, contact me to explore this topic further.

What questions do you ask for networking success?

Top 11 Ways to Think Strategically (Strategy series 2/4)

June 21, 2022 Regina Zafonte

Have you ever been told that you need to be more strategic without giving any concrete guidance on how to do that? If this is a top visible skill that helps you climb the organizational chart, it is worth the effort to grow the ability, regardless of your current position.

Being a strategic thinker can involve the big-picture, where you are not making decisions in a vacuum. You consider the future direction, how other departments might be affected, and how the outside world could respond to your choices.

Here are some specific approaches you can take to be a more strategic or a big picture thinker:

1. Take a stakeholder-centered approach. Step outside of your silo and stand in the shoes of all those connected to and impacted by your company. Consider these perspectives:

· Go vertical (up and down). Step back and survey the landscape to see the system. You can think about the customer, direct reports, manager, skip manager, CEO, shareholders, and community – both locally and globally. Ask the question – what do these people want and need? Where are the common denominators?

· Go horizontal (left and right). How are you considering other departments in your strategy? How is it aligned with the company’s domestic and international vision? Look across to your direct competitors or beyond to other industries to collect some of the best ideas and trends to make sense of the data in terms of what it means for your team and your company.

· Use an impact lens. What will be the result of your strategy on your organization and these various stakeholders? Do the outcomes support the broader goals of the organization? What could negatively impact the results? What do business partners need to understand to ensure its success? Having some answers to these questions can help you be more thoughtful and strategic.

2. Think in Timelines. Strategic thinkers operate across multiple time horizons simultaneously. What does the right outcome look like in six months? In three years? Where do those timeframes create tension, and how do you navigate it? What are the early signals that will tell you whether you're on track — or off it? What skills and talent will it take to succeed in the long term? What are the final indicators that tell you the strategy was successful? Whom do you need to support you on the journey?

The discipline of building a basic road map — with milestones, decision points, and indicators of progress — transforms abstract strategic intent into a navigable path. Without that map, strategy is just aspiration.

3. Anticipate challenges and ask hard questions. Strategic leaders don't just solve the problems in front of them — they think ahead to the problems that haven't arrived yet. What are the three most significant challenges facing the organization today? What challenges are coming in the next eighteen months that most people haven't named yet? How does today's work create or foreclose tomorrow's options?

The commander's question is useful here: What battle must we win to win the war? Identifying the lead domino — the challenge that, if solved, would unlock everything else — is one of the highest-leverage things a strategic thinker can do.

4. Solve the Right Problem. Most people want to offer a solution to the problem before adequately defining it. Quick fixes may seem convenient, but they often solve only the surface issues and waste resources that could otherwise be used to tackle the real cause. The 5 WHYs technique is great for getting at the root cause and preventing stubborn or recurrent problems as they are symptoms of deeper causes. It was developed and fine-tuned within the Toyota Motor Corporation as a critical component of its problem-solving training. Sakichi Toyoda, the Japanese Thomas Edison and architect of the Toyota Production System in the 1950s, describes the method in his book as “the basis of Toyota’s scientific approach . . . by repeating the word why five times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear.” Today, the method is used far beyond Toyota and is popular in lean development.

The 5 Whys in practice — a sales example:

Why did we miss our Q3 revenue target? [Because we closed fewer deals than projected.]
Why did we close fewer deals? [Because our pipeline was too thin entering the quarter.]
Why was the pipeline thin? [Because the sales team spent most of Q2 focused on renewing existing accounts.]
Why were they focused on renewals instead of new business? [Because there were no clear targets or incentives for new customer acquisition.]
Why were there no targets for new acquisition? [Because leadership assumed the existing customer base would generate enough growth — and that assumption was never tested.]

The root cause isn't a missed sales number. It's a strategic assumption that went unexamined. That's where the real fix lives — and it's a very different conversation than "close more deals."

5. Question Your Assumptions. If you are discussing a long-term company strategy upon which years of effort and expense will be based, you can ask basic questions about your beliefs. How do you know that business will increase? What does the research say about your expectations about the future of the market? Have you taken the time to step into the figurative shoes of your customers as a “secret shopper?” Another way to question your assumptions is to consider alternatives. You might ask: what if our clients changed? What if our suppliers went out of business? These sorts of questions help you gain new and vital perspectives that help hone your thinking.

6. Use First principles thinking. It is the best way to reverse-engineer complicated problems and reveal creative possibilities. The idea is to break down complex problems into fundamental elements and then reassemble them from the ground up. It’s one of the best ways to learn to think for yourself, unlock your creative potential, and move from linear to non-linear results. This approach was used by the philosopher Aristotle who defined it as the first basis from which a thing is known, and now by Elon Musk and Charlie Munger. It is about thinking like a scientist and not assuming anything; What is true and what has been proven?

Musk gave an example of how Space X uses first principles to innovate at low prices. People thought battery packs were expensive because that’s the way they have been in the past. Musk responded,

“Well, no, that’s pretty dumb… Because if you applied that reasoning to anything new, then you wouldn’t be able to ever get to that new thing…. you can’t say, … oh, nobody wants a car because horses are great, and we’re used to them and they can eat grass and there’s lots of grass all over the place and … there’s no gasoline that people can buy. Historically, battery packs cost $600 per kilowatt-hour… So the first principles would be, … what are the material constituents of the batteries? What is the spot market value of the material constituents? … It’s got cobalt, nickel, aluminum, carbon, some polymers for separation, and a steel can. So break that down on a material basis; if we bought that on a London Metal Exchange, what would each of these things cost? Oh, jeez, it’s … $80 per kilowatt-hour. So, clearly, you just need to think of clever ways to take those materials and combine them into the shape of a battery cell, and you can have batteries that are much, much cheaper than anyone realizes.”

First principles thinking allows you to see problems from multiple angles and interpret complex and conflicting information with curiosity and open-mindedness, and that’s what strategic thinking is all about.

7. Understand Complex Systems. Agents can sometimes interact in ways where they fundamentally change each other and something entirely different and unpredictable emerges from the contact. Paul Cilliers used the following analogy: “a jumbo jet is complicated (it is equal to the sum of its parts), and if you had to take it apart or reverse actions, you could, mayonnaise is complex (once mixed, you can’t separate the parts again; the Interaction fundamentally changes them).” In other words, complex systems are subject to co-evolution, and once it happens, it’s irreversible. How can you factor this idea into your strategy or big-picture thinking? Which steps you choose to take will be easily reversible, and which ones are permanent? How will that impact your experiments? Knowing this information will help you thrive in a VUCA world.

8. Practice Polarity Thinking. In Adam Grant’s Think Again, he talks about polarity thinking. For example, how can two great thought leaders have two different perspectives? Daniel Goleman would argue that EQ matters more than IQ as it can determine 90% of a leader’s success. In contrast, Jordan Peterson would maintain that EQ is a corporate marketing scheme; he downplays its importance. How can these two PhD holders be right if they have opposite views? Polarity thinking can allow both of them to be right, especially when thinking about context. Instead of talking about why it is important, you want to talk about WHEN it is important. EQ is beneficial with jobs that deal with perceiving and understanding emotions (customer service, counseling) but less relevant and even detrimental where emotions are less essential (mechanics, accountants). How can you apply polarity thinking or both/and approach to your business as a creative exercise?

9. Apply the 4Cs Framework. Adam Brandenburger writes about contrast, combination, constraint, and context to get creative with your strategy:

· Contrast. Challenge the assumptions undergirding the status quo.

· Combination. Steve Jobs famously said that creativity is “just connecting things”; what products or services seem independent from or even in tension with one another can you link?

· Constraint. A good strategist looks at an organization’s limitations and considers how they might become strengths. A lack of resources can be a fertilizer for innovation. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was staying near Lake Geneva during an unusually cold and stormy summer and found herself trapped indoors with nothing to do but exercise her imagination. Artists are pretty familiar with limitations, from setbacks to structural ones like writing a 14-line poem. How can you take a no and turn it into a yes? A client I was coaching was trying to get a budget for a new hire and when she was told no, she remained undeterred. She came up with an internal rotation idea as a way of repurposing talent to help on other teams. This solution helped with another goal of reducing burnout and attrition because it gave other people an option of doing different work, exercising their passion, and staying engaged.

· Context. If you reflect on how a problem which is similar to yours was solved in an entirely different context, surprising insights may emerge.

10. Build Scenario Plans. How can you lay out 3 likely scenarios, a least likely one, and a crazy one so you are prepared for as much as you can? What redundancies can you put into place so that there is support in place if one path fails? How can you anticipate what other people want and are likely to do so you can craft your response? Art Kleiner, Editor-in-Chief of PwC Global promotes the habit of mentalizing - which is thinking about what other people are thinking and instead of sharing what they want or what you want, going a step beyond to articulate what they are likely to do next.

11. Toggle between the Balcony and the Dance Floor. Move between the big-picture and day-to-day execution to broaden your view. As you are completing the day-to-day work, can you easily connect the work to the mission and vision? Do you know the why behind the small decisions? Similarly, in those conceptual meetings, can you move from the 1,000-foot view to the 100 to understand the next steps and roadmap that will allow you to ascend? Can you take a broad idea and create a plan with metrics and benchmarks while keeping the WHY top of mind?

From Thinking to Communicating

Once you have engaged in strategic thinking, it is important to have time for reflection so you can consolidate the learnings, get clear on your point of view, and communicate your strategy so your boss knows you are a strategic thinker and you can increase your visible leadership.

Here are two helpful steps for perception management:

1. Develop a clear point of view. When you have considered and implemented the above approaches, bring a perspective to the table. Do people know where you stand? Your leaders want to know what you think, so when you show that you are considering the big-picture and can articulate your views, you can stand out for a promotion. Beyond just coming up with ideas, it’s even more powerful when you can take the initiative and show you have thought a few steps ahead of how you would implement something and put your ideas into action. Having good ideas and strategies are only the first step; you also must communicate them and bring people along.

2. Prepare deliberately before key meetings. It can be too easy for us to feel like we will wing the meeting, but it is more powerful when we are deliberate. Block out 30 minutes on your calendar before essential meetings so you have time to collect your thoughts, and arrange and package your ideas into a coherent vision and direction. That shows strategic thinking when you are capable of synthesizing information and articulating knowledge concisely and compellingly. You can take the same approach in emails, when you are talking about completing work, you can offer the WHY behind the work and connect it to the mission and vision.

Having strategic thinking skills is essential for all people in the organization to develop because you can better deal with uncertainty and complexity. A common mistake for leaders as they rise through the ranks is that they stay in operational or execution mode and are not doing enough of the strategy work to get to the next phase of their careers. Using any of these frameworks can not only help you advance but also strengthen your contributions to your team and organization.

Quote of the day: “Always start at the end before you begin.” Author Robert Kiyosaki

Q: How do you develop your strategic thinking skills? What are your best practices for being strategic? Comment and share with us; we would love to hear!

The next blog in this series (3 of 4) will focus on thinking and reflecting practices to strengthen your strategic thinking skills

As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to engage in strategic thinking for them and their teams, contact me to learn more.

What is your company strategy? (Strategy series 1/4)

June 7, 2022 Regina Zafonte

Strategy is one of the most used — and most misunderstood — words in business. Before you can execute it, you have to know what it actually means.

Ask ten leaders what their company strategy is, and you'll get ten different answers. Some will describe their goals. Some will describe their values. Some will describe their operating model. Very few will describe what strategy actually is — and that gap has consequences. You can't execute clearly on something you can't define precisely.

So let's get precise.

At the company level, Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter defines strategy as a unique and valuable position that involves a different set of activities from your competitors, or the same activities performed in different ways. The Management theorist Henry Mintzberg broadened that definition with his 5 Ps framework:

· The plan helps you attain your objectives to achieve your intended position.

· The ploy is a new offering - usually a surprise tactic that competitors would not expect.

· The pattern is understanding what has worked before and carrying forward what is still useful.

· The position is your market location and the role you play relative to your main competitors.

· The perspective is how your organization sees itself and how various target audiences perceive you.

Together, these capture not just what an organization intends to do, but how it actually behaves, where it stands in the market, and how it sees itself. Strategy, in Mintzberg's view, is both deliberate and emergent — something you set and something you discover as you act.

In practice, strategy is your answer to the most important question any organization can ask: given who we are and where we operate, how do we create distinctive value? It's not a vision statement. It's not a set of aspirational goals. It's a set of choices — about where to play and how to win — that are internally coherent and hard to replicate.

Strategy touches every dimension of the business — how you grow revenue, how you serve customers, and how you build an organization where people thrive. Generally speaking, it's about the intention behind your work and how you pursue the mission creatively across all of these facets. The choices you make in each area should connect back to the same strategic logic.

Five Things Strategy Is — and Isn't

1. Strategy is about choices. To do well, a company must choose to do some things great and not others. So, how do you choose? Many people like to begin broadly in these four categories to be industry leaders:

· A. Product leader - Relentless innovation to be the best and most differentiated. Nike and Apple are product leaders. They constantly change their designs or shoe technology to be the coolest and most innovative in the market. It is hard to outdo them in this category.

· B. Customer intimacy – This is about creating an incredible experience for the customers where they are entirely taken care of. You are prepared to jump through hoops for them. Most large companies find this challenging, but Nordstrom is an example of excellence in this area. It is easier for smaller companies to do this like coffee shops, where workers know your name and have your order ready for you upon arrival. Zappos is known for exceptional customer service. Tony Hsieh shared a story about taking clients out one evening, and when they all returned to their rooms, one of them craved a pizza, but room service was closed. Tony suggested they call Zappos, and they came through on the request! Although they didn’t deliver themselves, they found a nearby pizza parlor that would.

· C. Operational excellence – Delivering consistent quality at scale with unmatched efficiency. Starbucks and Chipotle have standardized their processes and have a model that can be exported seamlessly.

· D. Cost leadership – making something genuinely good and affordable. It is part of IKEA’s competitive advantage. They target young furniture buyers who want style cheaply.

Roger Martin, named #1 by Thinkers 50 says to know if you have picked a good strategy, follow this rule – “If the opposite of your choice is stupid on its face, you have not chosen. For example, if you say, our strategy is to be customer-centric or operationally effective or to value our talent, you can perform this test by stating the opposite - Our strategy is to ignore customers entirely.” If it does not make sense, it cannot work as a strategy because it would be hard to do that and succeed, let alone stay in business. Maybe regulated monopolies like the DMV can get away with this, but they do not engender much love. If the opposite of operational effectiveness is inefficiency, then that’s not a choice because it is not a profitable route.

2. Strategy is about trade-offs. Michael Porter says, “the essence of strategy is choosing what not to do” because you do not have the bandwidth to do it all. Focusing on 1-2 things per quarter and adding the rest to your future list. Leaders need to know how to say no often. As Peter Drucker says, “strategy is saying no to the things that you would like to say yes to.” We can have many good ideas but only so much capacity to execute. The key is to choose a couple of priorities because when you have too many, your team spins their wheels, and there is no organizing framework since they all need your attention. Southwest Airlines is an example of a company that makes these strategic tradeoffs. They offer short-haul, low-cost, point-to-point service between midsize cities and secondary airports in large cities. They avoid large airports and do not fly great distances. Their frequent departures and low fares attract price-sensitive customers who otherwise travel by bus or car and convenience-oriented travelers who would choose a full-service airline. They empower their employees at the front desk to make decisions aligned with their priorities (e.g., planes landing on time, cheap prices, and treating customers well). It’s the reason they do not have milk on their flights because they do not have refrigerators since they have to be repaired when there are breakdowns, and that can lead to late departures.

3. Strategy is about problem-solving. At its core, strategy is the answer to a well-defined problem. What's the gap between where you are and where you need to be? The outcomes you are currently achieving nad your aspirations? What are the fewest, highest-leverage moves that close that gap? The discipline of strategy isn't just in identifying the right destination — it's in diagnosing the real problem clearly enough that the path forward becomes obvious.

Most strategic missteps happen not in the execution, but in the diagnosis. Teams build elegant solutions to the wrong problems. Slowing down to define the problem precisely — before reaching for solutions — is one of the most valuable things a strategist can do.

4. Strategy is about simplicity. There is a myth that strategy needs to be complicated but to be most effective, you want to make it simple - understandable, memorable, and actionable. Research by Roger Martin supports this point. He says, “43 percent of managers cannot state their strategy. When executives are not clear on their strategy, they have to work harder to see their impact on the organization’s direction.” Moreover, execution does not like complexity. Leaders who talk about strategy in concepts and cannot make it simple to move it to a specific goal with the fewest number of executable targets will struggle. As Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” You can start with these simple questions - where are you? Where do you need to go? What resources do you need? What are your options? Which one is best to prioritize? What is the easiest workflow process? What’s your timeframe? What’s your process to reflect and reevaluate?

5. Strategy is about flexibility. You can be clear on your vision and flexible in your strategy. You do not want a strategy that will handcuff you when a pivot is in order so it is important to check in on your strategy. Pay attention to the context and as variables and circumstances require you to update your strategy, be ready. You also may not have gotten it right the first time and that’s ok, you can alter it after your strategy has been tested.

The Question That Cuts Through the Noise

After all the frameworks and definitions, the most useful strategic question is also the simplest: What do we do better than anyone else — and for whom? If you can answer that clearly, you have the foundation of a strategy. If you can't, that's the work.

As Jack Welch said: "In reality, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell." The sophistication isn't in the concept. It's in the clarity of the choice — and the discipline to hold it.

Powerful Quote: “A vision without a strategy remains an illusion.” -Author Lee Bolman

Reflection Question: What’s your favorite strategy? What’s your process for formulating your strategy? Comment and share with us, we would love to hear!

The next blog in this series (2/4) will focus on how to develop strategic thinking skills.

As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to engage in strategic thinking for them and their teams, contact me to learn more.