There is a powerful idea in a quote I read today...
“You don’t have to know the ending to be perfectly on path.”
At first glance, this sounds like personal advice. But it is equally relevant to business leaders—and perhaps especially to leaders navigating organizations through periods of growth, uncertainty, transformation, or change.
One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is trying to make every piece of the organizational puzzle fit too early. We create the strategy. We establish the structure. We define the roles. We set the targets. We forecast the future. And then we expect reality to cooperate.
It rarely does.
Organizations are living systems. Markets change. Customers change. Employees change. Competitors emerge. Opportunities appear that weren't part of the original plan. People leave. New people arrive with different capabilities and perspectives. COVID happens. Trade wars materialize. Wars arrive.
Yet leaders can become attached to the picture they originally imagined. When something doesn't fit, the instinct is often to force it into place. A new opportunity - or challenge - doesn't fit the strategic plan, so we dismiss it. A talented employee doesn't fit the existing organizational structure, so we constrain them. A strategy isn't producing the expected results, so we double down rather than reconsidering the assumptions behind it. A long-standing process no longer makes sense, but we preserve it because "that's how we've always done it."
The quote above challenges that mindset. Not everything has to fit immediately. Sometimes the mismatched pieces are telling us something.
Leadership isn't about knowing the ending. Great leaders provide direction without pretending they know exactly where the journey will end. There is an important distinction between having a vision and having a predetermined outcome. A vision gives people a destination worth pursuing. A predetermined outcome assumes we already know exactly what the organization must look like when we get there.
The first approach creates alignment and understanding. The second approach can create rigidity and compliance.
Strategic leadership requires enough clarity to move forward while maintaining enough curiosity to recognize when reality is telling us to change course. That means asking, "What are we learning that we didn't know when we created the plan?" And...do we have the courage to face reality as it evolves.
Let the organization and the environment in which it exists reveal itself. Taking the quote further, there is an opportunity to see how mismatched pieces might actually coexist - or fade apart - when it is time. In fact, there is much to be said for organizational flexibility. Not every initiative needs to become - or should become - permanent. Not every relationship needs to continue. Not every idea needs to become a program. Not every employee needs to remain in the same role. Not every strategic priority deserves equal attention forever.
Leadership sometimes means recognizing what has run its course. But it also means recognizing what is quietly emerging.
Some of the organization's most important opportunities may initially look like mismatched pieces—an unconventional idea, a new market, an unexpected partnership, or an employee whose capabilities don't fit neatly into the existing structure. Rather than immediately asking, "Where does this fit?", perhaps we should sometimes ask, "What could this become?"
As I have alluded to in the past through this blog, I see strategy as being a compass not a map or, worse yet, a box or cage for to guide our work. Keep focused broadly north or in whatever direction you have established. The reality is that no strategy eliminates uncertainty. If you are waiting for certainty you will never move. And lack of movement in any aspect of life - business or personal - often means stagnation, irrelevance or even extinction.
Good strategy says where we want to go, why we want to go there, what matters most, and why and how we are making choices. But GOOD strategy also leaves room for learning and growth.
Maybe at the end of all of this I'm asking you to have faith in your work and the work of your team. Maybe I'm asking you to have faith. But it is faith grounded in vigorously interrogating your current and future reality. And then having the courage to move and change to continue to align with your north star.
So do the hard work. Make a GREAT plan. But be realistic enough to know that none of us have a crystal ball. Build a principle or value-based plan. Base your plan on solid analytical work. Base your plan on a realistic assessment of your capacity and capability. Then be prepared to grow and evolve.
That's leadership. And it IS all about Leadership!
Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
