A high-performing Founder & CEO needs more than experience and instinct to guide the business. They need Strategic Orientation. 

A Founder possesses experience, and develops deep skills, in creating business strategies and plans that incorporate competitive issues, industry trends, and external factors. Their strategy cannot simply live in their head or rely on “gut feel.” Planning should be on a regular cadence and cover a range of services and/or markets and address the full range of organizational implications.

A “Flounderer” CEO manages based on a single data point, for example what they heard at their latest industry conference, what an important customer told them, or a comment an investor made about a non-comparable business in a completely different sector. These observations may have value, but without an overarching framework to judge their applicability, they can easily become ‘the’ strategy.

A Founder knows how to integrate market and competitive trends, the organization’s current and future state, and other issues into a coherent vision for change and growth. They are not scared of the hard work required to conduct meaningful analysis, and they connect their vision to reasonable initiatives and rational priorities that are compelling, logical, and actionable.

The Litmus Test: Can you articulate the potential industry changes and scenarios that might evolve in the future, and are you successfully positioning your company and your employees to succeed across those various possibilities?

Strategic Orientation is one of nine critical competencies that define a high-performing Founder & CEO.

Read more to explore the other competencies and consider how you measure up against the Founder performance bar.