Have an Overall Strategic Approach

When investors meet with the leadership team, once they are comfortable with the personal proficiency of the team members, they often want to know if the leaders have strategic proficiency. Their inquiry begins by determining how leaders conceive strategy. They want to see a compass that gives direction—but also a map that offers a blueprint for moving forward.

One investor explained that she wants to see if and how the leaders think ahead. "Do they have a plan for the future? Where are they spending their personal time and energy? The past? Present? Or future?” For investors to determine if leaders are strategists with a point of view about the future, they need to ensure that leaders have a commitment to strategic thinking.

Figure 4.1. Framework for Assessing Leaders' Strategic Proficiency

Strategic leaders are likely to have a blueprint that they follow for creating their future position. The specific elements of the blueprint are less important than the simple existence of an overall scheme for how to think of strategy. Figure 4.2 offers an example of such a blueprint. Investors will have more confidence in leaders' strategic proficiency if the leaders can quickly share a simple blueprint of how they translate their strategic thinking into specific planning processes.

Possible indicators:

Do leaders have a strategic blueprint that captures all the elements of strategic proficiency?

Do they regularly apply this framework?