The essential strategic leadership primer: Chapter one

The scene was right out of a heated talk show debate. The difference was that this was inside my lecture hall last weekend at North South University -- with 30 well-qualified executive professionals debating on a case study about what strategic leadership style is most beneficial in contemporary times.

As the lead for these discussions, it behooved me to move these executive professionals out of tautologies and circular reasonings and provide the leitmotifs of current research and practice -- the attempt was to engender a knowledge-driven consensus on what strategic leadership paradigms should they adopt in their professional environments. 

But what I was facing were very compelling, yet diametrically opposite arguments, from multiple professionals -- and I found all perfectly valid.

While the PepsiCo Country Head was convincingly pushing his argument to the executive audience that an inclusive and collaborative situational leadership style (leadership that changes as per the kind of followers you have, yet promotes participative and innovating group think) was more beneficial in most circumstances, the Sigma Group Director was getting the audience's endorsement on the argument that of prime importance is leadership that does not destabilize the organization culture (eg a corporation that has been run on authoritative leadership cannot and should not be changed over a short time to modern sounding leadership strategies, however fashionable they might be, as that might lead to an utter structural collapse -- an argument that has held strength especially in the field of mergers, my specialty, where the key reason for failure of most mega mergers is culture collision -- one company attempting to drill down its culture down the throat of the other).

Strategic leadership, truly, encompasses such a varied and resplendent gamut of managerial factors that it is tough to categorize an optimal model in a square box. At the same time, I realized that what we can do alternatively, is to first analyze the strategic leadership style that modern day corporate leaders have employed (Chapter one, this week, here and now, for your reading pleasure) and then to analyze whether this really succeeded for their corporations (Chapter two; next week my friends).

So here is a curated package of 10 of the modern world's greatest corporate leaders and my views on how they have inspired their people:

1. Jeff Bezos, the founder and former CEO of Amazon, is known for his customer-centric leadership style. Bezos believes that the key to success is to focus relentlessly on the customer, to innovate constantly, and to be patient for the long-term payoff. His leadership style is marked by his intense focus on data and his ability to make quick and bold decisions based on that data.
2. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, is known for his empathetic leadership style. He emphasizes the importance of creating a culture of empathy, which involves actively listening to and understanding the perspectives of customers, employees, and other stakeholders. Under his leadership, Microsoft has focused on transforming itself into a cloud-based, AI-driven company.
3. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is known for his calm and disciplined leadership style. Cook is focused on creating a culture of excellence and has been instrumental in driving innovation and growth at Apple. He emphasizes the importance of collaboration and communication, and is known for his ability to balance the needs of stakeholders, including customers, employees, and investors.
4. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet/Google, is known for his quiet and understated leadership style. He emphasizes the importance of innovation, agility, and speed, and is focused on building a culture of collaboration and empowerment. Under his leadership, Google has continued to innovate in areas such as AI and machine learning.
5. Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo, is known for her transformational leadership style. She emphasizes the importance of creating a culture of performance and accountability, and is focused on driving innovation and growth. Under her leadership, PepsiCo shifted its focus to healthier, more sustainable products, and has been recognized for its commitment to social responsibility.
6. Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, is known for her collaborative and inclusive leadership style. She emphasizes the importance of creating a culture of accountability and continuous improvement, and is focused on driving innovation and growth. Under her leadership, General Motors has been at the forefront of developing electric and autonomous vehicles.
7. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, is known for his visionary leadership style. He is focused on creating a culture of innovation and growth, and is committed to using technology to connect people and make the world a better place. Under his leadership, Facebook has become one of the world's most powerful and influential companies.
8. Ginni Rometty, the former CEO of IBM, is known for her transformational leadership style. She emphasizes the importance of creating a culture of innovation and growth, and is focused on driving IBM's transformation into a cloud-based, AI-driven company. Under her leadership, IBM has made major investments in AI and blockchain technology.
9. Jack Ma, the founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba, is known for his bold and entrepreneurial leadership style. He emphasizes the importance of taking risks and pursuing your passions, and is focused on empowering small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world. Under his leadership, Alibaba has become one of the world's largest and most innovative e-commerce companies.
10. And last, but not the least, is the most vociferously talked about CEO/thought leader/thinker of the modern corporate world. I snap back at this point to my NSU session, where at one point, the PepsiCo Country Head asked the cohort to use keywords to describe this legendary thought leader. The terms that came out were: Demanding, authoritative, visionary, perfectionist, innovative, risk-taking, transformational, inspirational … While the PepsiCo Country Head was actually referring to Steve Jobs, these keywords can be perfectly mirrored onto the leader I am referring to -- Elon Musk! It's absolutely surprising, yet fascinating, that both Jobs and Musk have personalities and leadership styles that can be mirrored perfectly onto each other … But the learning out here is something deeper.

Till this point in my NSU session, the discussion had revolved around authoritative versus collaborative leadership styles being mutually exclusive -- where one had to be at the expense of the other. 

But at this point came the growing consensus that that did not need to be the case at all. Both Jobs and Musk had/have proven that being innovative and transformational could go step-in-step with being autocratic, onerous, and the likes. 

The same leader could combine all these supposedly diametrically opposite strategic leadership styles into one persona and come out as perhaps the most inspiring leader of all times.

And what does it actually take to become as agile and multifaceted as these stalwarts? That, my friends, is the fodder for chapter two next week. Until then, happy readings…

Dr Sandeep Ananthanarayanan, alumnus of IIM Calcutta and University of Buckingham, is the Group Strategy Director of Best Holdings, teaches Strategic Management at North South University and takes M&A sessions at IBA. He is also the QMSC Board member at Bureau of Indian Standards, Government of India.