Today’s CEO is wrestling with unique market challenges.    These challenges have forced many leaders and employees to question current business models and are looking at change not as a threat but as a necessity.  This openness to change provides an opportunity to inspire their team to a better destination.  However, many changes are complex and can reach to the heart of the company culture. Therefore, strong executive leadership from the CEO is required to overcome these obstacles and fuel the company’s transformation.

The CEO must first define that destination, and understand the characteristics the company must have in order to reach it.  Those are the responsibilities unique to the CEO that cannot be replaced by consultants or even the most gifted employees. Strategic planning provides the framework to ensure the destination is defined and the path clearly mapped out.  Strategic planning accomplishes this by providing essential focus that is needed regardless of the size or complexity of an organization.  This focus allows companies to compete based on their strengths, and increases agility, empowering them to outmaneuver less focused competitors.

The CEO must also reestablish the cultural foundation of the organization.  Through establishing a vision, mission, and values that the CEO can passionately advocate, he/she can motivate the team to achieve things they formally thought not possible.  This focused motivation is the currency of strong leadership and the foundation of ongoing success.

If the CEO’s goal is to build an exceptional organization based on a sound strategy they need to take a step back to decide where they want to go, and be prepared to lead their company to that destination.