In The Strategic Leadership Roadmap (October 2016), Harbir Singh and Michael Useem offer a six-step process by which to develop managers who can integrate leadership and strategy. Here is one of the passages that caught my eye:

The Strategic Leader’s checklist

1. Master the elements of strategy and strategy both separately and as an integrated whole.

2. Pursue directed learning, one-on-one coaching, and instructive experience to develop an integrated understanding of strategy and leadership.

3. Arrange a strong match between the strategic challenges of a managerial position and the individual and leadership skills to fill it.

4. Communicate strategic intent throughout the organization and empower others to implement the strategy.

5. Ensure that leaders at every level are capable of appreciating strategic intent [i.e. a compelling, affirmation of an organization’s ultimate objective] and implementing it; and hold them responsible for its execution.

6. Focus on both short- and long-term objectives; press for disciplined analysis and avoid status quo; and bring the future into the present.

Singh and Useem: “Mastery of one or two elements will not accomplish much, but taken together these six items form a platform for developing and applying strategic leadership.”

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Harbor Singh is Mack Professor of Management; co-director, Mack Institute for Innovation Management; Vice Dean, Global Initiatives; research interests include corporate governance, corporate restructuring, joint ventures, management buyouts, and strategies for corporate acquisitions.

Michael Useem is William and Jacalyn Egan Professor of Management; Editor, Wharton Leadership Digest; Director, Center for Leadership and Change Management; research interests include catastrophic and enterprise risk management, corporate change and restructuring, leadership, decision making, and governance.