Why agility, curiosity, and the right questions define effective leaders

Don’t confuse apples with oranges

Has business strategy somehow become confused with planning? In reality, they are two very different things, like a car and a bicycle. Perhaps similar in some respects, but radically different.

Planning is easy; our brains are wired for it—always thinking about what’s next and anticipating the future. “She who plans must plan often,” said one Chinese leader. Despite constant change and flux, plans tend to be relatively certain and easy to implement.

For instance, installing a new ERP system, creating a youthful digital product, launching a social media blitz, and forming a joint venture with a company in Addis Ababa — these are all plans.

Strategy is completely different. Based on a diagnosis and a best-guess hypothesis about the future, one has insights about market patterns, and makes an uncertain [often risky] bet, about a course of action.

Read: What to consider in you firm’s strategic planning

It is absurd to think that one can have an all-knowing strategy that can last five years, when things can shift in the twinkling of an eye. Napoleon, one of the great strategists in more modern times was famed for his flexibility and agile thinking.

Napoleon’s agility

Napoleon designed what would now be called an ‘agile organisation’ with power and decision-making capability spread across different ‘teams’.

His goal was to empower those teams to learn in real time and make swift, independent decisions. Napoleon’s focus was on acting faster than the Prussian ‘competition’ – who were using a more hierarchical organisation, not so prepared for changes in the ‘ecosystem’.

More than 200 years later, these are the same capabilities that allow startups and imaginative companies to disrupt much larger well endowed corporates. Napoleon was asking very different questions than his more traditional adversaries.

Sprint, don’t crawl

Building on Napoleon’s quickness in strategy, it may be better to sprint. Perhaps better to ditch the suits -- skip the jargon. In a sprint, is it possible to achieve insightful strategy and innovation quickly?

Many companies are stuck in a sea of sameness? In a short time, one can fast-track breakthroughs, tailored for ambitious businesses ready to grow, pivot, or disrupt.

A sprint approach is designed for leaders who are tired of slow plans, stale thinking, and sluggish results. In a very short time, it is possible to uncover hidden value, break from the competition, and co-create a razor-sharp strategy to launch new growth.

In facing a saturated market, declining performance, or planning your next big move - the sprint approach unlocks clarity, confidence, and actions that stick.

System 1 thinking is easy and quick

A perceptive optometrist will tell you that -- it is not your eyes that see, seeing happens in the brain, interpreting the light signals. Where does the work happen? Again, in your grey cells.

The default programming of the human brain is to conserve energy and try to make quick connections. Leap to rapid conclusions. To get quick answers to easy obvious questions – often called system 1 thinking.

System 1 and System 2 thinking describe two distinct modes of cognitive processing introduced by Nobel Prize laureate Daniel Kahneman in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow.

System 1 is fast, automatic, and intuitive, operating with little to no effort. This mode of thinking allows us to make quick decisions and judgments based on patterns and experiences.

In contrast, system 2 is slow, deliberate, and conscious, requiring intentional effort. System 2 thinking is used for complex problem-solving and analytical tasks where more thought and consideration are necessary.

Five-year plans did not work then

Five-year plans became popular, spurred by a series of economic initiatives launched by the authoritarian leader Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union starting in 1928, aiming to rapidly industrialise the country and catch up with Western economies through central planning and collectivisation. These more rigid five-year plans did not work then, and they rarely work now.

Stalin’s five-year plans prioritised heavy industry and set ambitious production quotas, leading to significant growth in industrial output.

Read: SME leadership skills gap and how to fix it

However, they were also characterised by forced collectivisation of farms, which led to famine, the requisition of agricultural goods to fund industrialisation, and poor-quality products, at a massive human cost.

Begin with curiosity and humility

In talking about CEOs who excel and ask questions, McKinsey partner Carolyn Dewar said, “I was surprised by their learning mindset and curiosity.

You would expect, especially from these folks who’ve been successful for so long, that they would show up very much with the answers—that they had mastered their craft and were just running on repeat. That’s not what we found at all. Humility, a willingness to be open to feedback, and a willingness to learn and challenge their own thinking continually were striking.”

“It was counterintuitive to me how much these leaders appreciated how counterintuitive leadership can be—for example, that taking a little more time to get to an answer, when people feel involved in the discussion, will have a disproportionate impact in ways that a rational person wouldn’t even conceive of,” said Scott Keller.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Never lose a holy curiosity,” advised Albert Einstein.

David J. Abbott is a director at aCatalyst Consulting.