They don’t care about your strategy
The team don’t care about your strategy – they care about how you make them feel about the journey ahead.
I’ve been in rooms where business leaders introduce a shiny powerpoint, they can recite their 5 year plan from memory, but they can’t remember the names of all the people in the room.
When I run the ‘think of a really good leader’ exercise, the qualities people list are generally very similar:
* Listened to
* Believed in
* Gave me confidence
* Was honest
* Made time for me
Not once, never ever ever ever !! has anyone said ‘they had a brilliant strategy’ I’m not saying it dosen’t matter, because it does. But, thats not what people carry in their heads once they leave the meeting room.
The reason this matters commercially is incredibly simple – the leaders that teams remember are the ones that stick with them when the ‘sh#t hits the fan’. They’re the ones who build loyalty that survives a bad quarter, a tough restructure, or a competitor offering 10% more money. They’re also the ones who create teams that don’t fall apart when the founder steps back.
Strategy gets the buy in for the journey ahead, but its your people that will get you to the destination you’re aiming for.
