How to manage the strategy of a visionary leader…

by | Feb 29, 2024 | Leadership, Podcast Leader Guide, Strategic Execution

How to NOT Execute Your Strategy (S2E2): Tom Pisello

Tom Pisello is a marketing guru, author, and serial entrepreneur, having launched and sold two successful businesses. He has just started his third business, Genius Drive, where he and his team help companies develop and successfully transform their value story into powerful customer engagements. In this episode, we dive into how Tom’s own visionary leadership wrecked the execution of a great idea – and what he learned from that experience.

Three key concepts:

  1. Beware the danger of allowing your vision to overshadow your ability to execute. If the energy of your big idea dominates the conversation, it can shove difficult topics – like readiness and dependencies – to the side.
  2. Sell first – develop and deliver second. Not the other way around. You need that co-creation and collaboration with those customers to make sure that that you are executing what will ultimately be adopted/valuable to your greater market.
  3. You have to balance the energy of innovation with the autonomy that your teams need to make their own decisions. This is REALLY hard to do because the tendency for visionary leaders is to kill one or the other.

BONUS – Leader guide: Use the following questions for (a) self-reflection as a leader and/or (b) a great discussion with your team.

1) Listen to the full episode before this discussion.
2) What do you think – is executing the strategy of a visionary leader harder than executing the strategy of a different kind of leader? Why?
3) Define the difference between executing a vision and executing a strategy in 10 words or less. Share your answers.
4) What is essential to making sure that the strategy captures the vision without sacrificing the details need for execution?
5) Which of the elements defined above are most important? Why?
6) Looking at our efforts now, what should we be doing now to ensure that what we deliver is fully aligned to the vision we need to bring to life?
7) Option: Take time right now to define exactly what that looks like (the outcome(s), metrics, and requirements).

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with at least one person. And leave me a review on whatever platform you engaged this podcast. Your feedback is invaluable to me.

Holomua. Onward and upward.

All the best ~ Tim

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