Companies face different challenges on the journey of business evolution. Some of these challenges are framed in the technical, market and economic environment. We can speak to the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous forces in the business world, the so-called VUCA forces that shape the realities for every enterprise.

Another set of challenges is often framed in the strategic and cultural realities of the organization. These derive from the everyday thought and behavior of people at every level of the company. These challenges surface in conversations about:

-     Major strategic choices and decision making

-     Resource allocation priorities and resource development

-     Targets for business growth, performance and change

-     Risk management in the context of business evolution

-     Human capital and benchstrength matched to plans

Each of these challenges poses as some kind of opportunity if boards and management have a little strategic resolve. If we could put strategic resolve in a few words, we mean:

-     Courage to move beyond norms and convention

-     Energy and a sense of urgency to make advances

-     Accountability in thought, action and outcomes

-     Respect for the challenges and for passion for solutions

-     Curiosity to tap into opportunities and competencies

Strategic resolve can be expressed in scenario analysis and planning, innovation research, service process analysis, customer engagement, project collaboration, business model research and other good practices. But the heart and soul of strategic resolve is found in the leadership mandates of the organization and the engagement of people in the serious work of making strategy happen. Focusing on results, no matter the challenges or speed bumps or tradition, is what the strategic resolve is all about.

Popular wisdom holds that CEOs ascend to the executive mountain top with a combination of management and leadership assets. This combination of knowledge, experience, perspective and relationship capital serves as the foundation of judgment.

From sound judgment, better CEOs create real strategic and economic value for their stakeholders – employees, investors, customers and suppliers. From sound judgment, they shape their company’s strategic agenda for growth, performance and change. And, according to a recent expose by Business Week, they engage in practices tied to:

-     Innovation

-     Customer Focus

-     Productivity

-     Risk Management

-     Organization

A sense of urgency, smart execution, competitive savvy, resilience, strong resolve, collaboration, thoughtful readiness, cultural respect, diligence, insight and communication help. Bringing up executive talent is a critical imperative that deserves serious and specific sound engagement, and in companies large and small, the evolution of C-suite benchstrength has to be a strategic priority.

The CEO of the Future

Building executive-level competence is all about experience in specific management and leadership assets. The CEO of the future will not emerge from a simple formula of skillsets, but rather a dynamic formula of unfolding competencies and evolutionary thought. The capacity for relationships, the credibility of influence and the confidence of personal leadership are all part of the equation.

Nonprofit governance is gaining a lot of attention these days. One reason is the cloud of uncertainty that goes along with economic conditions, political evolution and market challenges. Another issue is the desire for greater board effectiveness by nonprofit stakeholders, consistent with concerns of corporate board governance.

Research on board strategy and leadership points to at least five areas of board engagement that are especially essential for nonprofits:

1.   Foresight and Understanding –

The context for meaning and decision making.

2.   Organizational Perspectives –

The resources, culture, process considerations.

3.   Construction of Strategy –

The elements of direction, integration and execution.

4.   Focus on Cause-and-Effect –

The measures of intent, activity and impact.

5.   Board Thought and Behavior –

The interaction of people, ideas, systems and value.

Boards are accountable for management guidance, general compliance and mission discernment. They are also accountable for the evolution of the nonprofit organization, taking care of the near-term and getting ready for the long-term. The competencies of individual board members and the collaboration of board members and management provide the crucible for strategic leadership at the governance level.

From: Dewar Sloan Working Paper on Strategy and Nonprofit Boards

A review of customer and category research suggests several basic themes in the formation, integration and execution of service strategies that drive value creation; each of these deserves more deliberate analysis:

1. Service Culture and Sense…

What the organization believes about the nature, relevance, and impact of its service to customers.

2. Service Proposition and Focus…

What the organization promises, delivers and engages with customers under the rubric of service.

3. Service Competence and Practice…

What the organization builds, dispenses, maintains and advances through deliberate service management.

John Di Julius, author of What’s the Secret? – a good book on service, suggests that the real secret in all of this is service aptitude at the employee level. Others suggest that the magic derives from attitudes, engagement and principled behavior. In terms of your strategic agenda for growth, performance and change, the plan for service is at the heart of things – where your ideas, people and value come together in the mind of the customer.

By simply taking in the news, one would probably miss a few things that are positive in business today. Beyond the chafe about the economic meltdown, political malaise and industrial decline are some impressive themes:

1. Companies have discovered or rediscovered their ability to address tough problems under pressure. Managers who have not experienced economic stress before are learning what can be done under the gun of resource constraints and calendar tension. That is a great thing.

2. Companies have discovered or rediscovered their ability to create new strategic and economic value from ideas. Call it the discipline of innovation or the deliberate practice of solution integration, the net effect is driving more opportunities for evolution. That is a great thing.

3. Companies have discovered or rediscovered their ability to engage the hearts and minds of people. Matching the many challenges of growth, performance and change with the readiness and resolute courage of talented people is a powerful engine for business sustenance. Great.

As the editor of Fast Company, Robert Safian, notes in his March 2009 commentary, there is much to cheer about, and indeed there is. Strategic leadership that is prepared and resolved to match strategy, culture, resources and structure with the realities of the business environment and a smart set of natural goals will take most companies to the next level.