THE CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
Written on 15.15 by Dimas Sugeng Rachmadi
Ref : (R. Timothy S. Breene, Paul F. Nunes, and Walter E. Shill)
WHY WE NEED A CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
CSOs handle three critical strategy implementation tasks:
Engendering commitment to strategic plans. CSOs articulate a clear definition of your company’s strategy and explain how each person’s work relates to it. Driving immediate change. CSOs facilitate the change initiatives required to execute the strategy.
Promoting decision making that sustains change. CSOs ensure that strategic decisions don’t get watered down or ignored as they’re translated throughout the organization.
HELP WANTED: FINDING A QUALIFIED CSO
Finding someone with the skills and experience needed to develop strategy, translate it for people across functions and business units, and drive organizational change is not easy. To help companies evaluate candidates, we’ve developed a checklist of some of the personal and behavioral traits necessary for the job, listed here in order of relative importance.
• Deeply trusted by the CEO.
CSOs are often given carte blanche to tackle companywide challenges and seize new business opportunities, so there must be a strong bond of trust between the strategy chief and the CEO.
• A master of multitasking.
Our survey revealed that CSOs are responsible for upward of ten major business functions and activities, as diverse and demanding as M&A, competitive analysis and market research, and long-range planning. CSOs therefore must be capable of switching between environments and activities without losing speed.
• A jack of all trades.
Less than one-fifth of our survey respondents spent the bulk of their careers (pre-CSO) on strategic planning. Most reported significant line-management and functional experience in disparate areas, including technology management, marketing, and operations.
• A star player.
Most CSOs can point to impressive business results earlier in their careers. They usually view the strategy role as a launching pad, not a landing pad.
• A doer, not just a thinker.
CSOs split their time almost evenly between strategy development and execution, but their bias is toward the latter.
• The guardian of horizon two.
Senior teams generally have a good handle on short- and long-term issues CSOs must be able to refocus the organization’s attention on horizon two, the critical period for strategy execution.
• An influencer, not a dictator.
Strategy chiefs don’t usually accomplish their goals by pulling rank. They sway others with their deep industry knowledge, their connections throughout the organization, and their ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the company.
• Comfortable with ambiguity.
All executives today must exhibit this trait, but it’s especially true for CSOs, whose actions typically won’t pay off for years. The role tends to evolve rapidly, as circumstances dictate, requiring an extraordinary ability to embrace an uncertain future.
• Objective.
Given their wide remit, CSOs have to be perceived as objective. An openly partisan CSO, or one who lets emotions or the strength of others’ personalities cloud his or her vision, is sure to fail.
The CEO’s Burden
The CEO is ultimately responsible for the vision and strategy of the corporation—so why hire a CSO? There are good reasons for CEOs to delegate strategy responsibilities to another in the C-suite. CEOs are being weighed down by the ever-growing complexity of doing business in a global economy. Networks of companies are a great boon to industry, as alliances, partnerships, and close supplier relationships facilitate the flow of mint challenge for stressed-out executives, as big companies enter into literally thousands of relationships
