The Strategist and Strategy Leadership
An interesting linguistic distinction in French caught my attention during a Talking Strategy podcast featuring Beatrice Heuser, Paul O’Neill, and Emilie Cleret. Heuser explains that the French language has separate words for those who think about strategy (stratégiste) and those who pursue its realization (stratège). This subtle but important difference offers valuable insights into how we think about business strategy.
As Heuser observed in the podcast:
“I love the fact that in French there are two different words. One is the stratège and one is the stratégiste. The stratégiste is the one who writes about war and philosophises about war, is writing about strategy. And the stratège is the one who actually is the practitioner in the field.”
While Heuser was discussing military strategy, this distinction resonates powerfully in the business world. In my role leading McKinsey’s Strategy Leadership Service Line, I regularly see how gaps between strategic thinking and strategy execution can make or break a company’s, and strategy executive’s, success. I counsel Chief Strategy Officers on getting started in and excelling in their roles, help them improve their strategy functions and systems, and advise on strategy design, mobilization, and execution. Through this work, I’ve come to appreciate how crucial it is to understand the full spectrum between those who theorize strategy and those who enact it.
As Heuser points out, the English language doesn’t have two words that make this distinction. The English word “strategist” — defined as someone who devises strategies — is derived from the French word stratégiste, but there is no single word that matches the French word stratège. While there are plenty of strategists who indeed focus mainly on thinking and writing on strategy, this definition ultimately underplays the role many great leaders I know who describe themselves as strategists play in their organizations.
This is why I generally prefer to use the term “strategy leader.” It captures the full scope of what’s needed in the arena — not just the ability to devise strategies, but the leadership capability to mobilize people and resources to pursue a vision and execute plans using strategy. While this capability is essential for Chief Strategy Officers and their teams, it’s equally valuable in business unit leaders, functional heads, and leaders across organizations who help shape, cascade, and execute strategies. This broader view of strategy leadership is reflected in our recent research on the evolving mandate of strategy in organizations.
Many of the most effective strategy leaders I encounter demonstrate this comprehensive capability. They recognize that achieving great strategy outcomes requires both penetrating analysis and practical execution skills. They can craft thoughtful strategies while ensuring these strategies survive their organization’s internal dynamics long enough to influence the competitive landscape (to paraphrase the late Andy Marshall). They know how to use strategy as a tool for alignment and engagement.
Even if they themselves don’t perfectly embody both aspects, they find ways to bridge them thoughtfully and effectively. Their focus extends beyond personal expertise to cultivating strategic thinking and enabling strategic decision-making throughout their organizations. They understand where distinctive strategic intelligence creates the most value, whether that’s in anticipating competitive opportunities, crafting creative ways to create optionality, or determining how to communicate the essence of a strategy in a way the front line will connect with. They build and sustain strategy systems that underpin strategic courage across their organizations.
I’ve seen leaders take various approaches to developing this comprehensive capability in their teams. To share a few examples, some rotate strategy talent between developing strategies and leading their execution, with key team members transitioning to operational roles to guide major strategic initiatives for a period before returning with invaluable “field experience.” Others overinvest in strategy skills building and onboarding so that they can have more flexibility about where to source talent from within their organization, including and especially from those with real execution experience. All ensure some kind of robust strategy governance that brings together strategy teams and operational leaders to assess strategy execution progress, capture learnings, and refine strategic direction. Whatever their strategy is for ensuring their talent is connected to both strategy design and execution, the best ensure it is purposeful, thoughtful, and well-executed.
While not a perfect corollary, the Brooklyn Bridge’s construction offers a fascinating historical example of how bold projects come to fruition through leaders who can both envision and understand the future and drive action, even at great personal cost. John Roebling, already renowned for designing major suspension bridges, conceived an innovative vision for connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. After his tragic death from an on-site injury in 1869, his son and right hand Washington Roebling advanced the project using pioneering techniques like pressurized underwater chambers — until these same innovations left him largely bedridden with injuries from decompression sickness. His wife Emily then emerged as an extraordinary leader, combining natural mathematical ability with political savvy to drive the project to completion. Over 14 years, these three leaders demonstrated how transformative projects can require brilliant conception, deep technical knowledge, and determined execution — sometimes across multiple leaders.
As I launch The Strategy Leader’s Craft newsletter, the distinction between those who think about strategy and those who also support its realization highlights an essential truth: glory belongs to strategy leaders at all levels who can bridge distinctive thought and effective action. The most impactful strategy leadership comes from those — whether in the C-suite, strategy function, or across an organization — who can draw on both theoretical and practical knowledge of strategy, who know where and how to deploy different types of strategic intelligence, and who can support a system of both strategic thinking and decision-making.
Great strategy leadership requires us to embrace both the thinking and doing of strategy, regardless of our role. It demands that we combine deep strategic insight with the ability to mobilize organizations and drive execution using strategy. By recognizing and acting on this we can realize the power of the craft of strategy leadership to transform organizations and create lasting value.
This was originally posted on November 4, 2024 in my LinkedIn newsletter The Strategy Executive’s Craft: The Art and Science of Strategy Leadership.
