Most of the time, when I’m leading a senior executive team through setting strategy, idea generation is not the problem.  In fact, ideas are often abundant.  Sometimes, too much so.  I’ve had clients propose many more strategic initiatives than they could possibly execute on.

Ideation, I tell them, is rarely the hurdle in strategy’s success.

Execution is.

Or, more accurately, the bandwidth and capacity to execute.

If your plate runneth over, and those of your colleagues on the senior leadership team are similarly full, then taking a few days off site to design a strategic plan will be time and money ill spent.

Better, instead, to spend that time defining roles and responsibilities and creating real delegation of both small and larger tasks to deputies in your departments.  And if you don’t have deputies, then identifying and grooming them is a priority.

After establishing that critical foundation, you’ll have some breathing room.  And then it’s time to set strategy so that you’re not just focused on fighting fires and meeting deadlines, but putting attention and focus on accelerating and ensuring future business success.

If your 2018 strategy hasn’t yet been drawn up or isn’t being executed, I lead strategic leadership sessions to set priority, direction, and an action plan.  For more: sarah@sarah-levitt.com

You can go here to Amazon or Barnes and Noble to purchase a copy of my new book, Magnificent Leadership, and read about the leadership journeys of exemplars across all different domains.

If you want to work with me directly and aspire to your own Magnificent Leadership®, particularly if you’re preparing for, or entering, an elevated leadership position, you can reach me at sarah@sarah-levitt.com for more information.  I’ll have openings in mid-April.  I work with smart, talented, ambitious CEOs and Fortune 1000 senior executives who run companies and aspire to magnificent performance and results.

And if your national conference, leadership summit, or board retreat calls for a dynamic keynote speaker who provides practical, real-world solutions to every day challenges, I’m speaking throughout the country this year on “Magnificent Leadership® — Keys to Success.”  And I’ve just rolled out a brand new keynote: “Self-Correcting Teams – The Heart of Innovation.”  For booking information: sarah@sarah-levitt.com   Next month, I’ll be giving the opening keynote on “Magnificent Leadership® – Keys to Success” at the American Bankers Association Emerging Leaders Forum in Washington, DC and headlining AFP’s BreakThrough Conference for senior financial executives in Nashville in May.