“Leaders who put their faith in strategy units are abdicating their responsibilities”
[ Sir Terry Leahy, former CEO of Tesco ]
I chose Terry Leahy’s quote because he has been regarded as one of the more successful Fortune 100 CEOs of recent decades and he has written a book encapsulating his wisdom.The quote shows he was rather dismissive of the idea that strategy could be delegated. However his successor, Philip Clarke appears to have a different view – he has had two strategy directors already. I use Tesco only as as an abstract example – to illustrate that management best practice thinking is still a little undecided about the need for this kind of role, even though it has been around for decades.
What do you think about chief strategy officers? To be honest, many business and IT senior managers and executives that I meet tend to sneer a little. Some probably fear the sometimes rather covert and semi-detached nature of a corporate strategy function. Others may see the existence of the role as a symptom of all-too-clever board level politicking – with some faction or another trying to supplement or supplant the incumbent CEO. But about a third of Fortune 500 companies have someone doing a corporate strategy role, so no matter how much cynics may want to dismiss it as either an apparatchik or exit lounge position – it is often substantive.
That matters because we are quickly entering into an era of new digital business strategy excitement and fast moving activity. There’s evidence everywhere, from head hunters seeking chief digital officers to board agendas dedicating time to the subject. In any company that has a professional corporate strategy leader supporting the CEO, the CIO needs to rethink what kind of “digital” thinking might originate from that source over the next couple of years.
I’m researching the role of chief strategy officers in end user businesses (not IT vendors) at the moment. If such a person exists in your firm I’d be very interested in hearing from you.
[ mark dot raskino at gartner dot com ]