How Much Strategy, How Much Leadership?

How much strategy, how much leadership?  

To become one of the best bakers in the world, you must understand science. Baking requires precise measurements of ingredients to produce the perfect product. One mistake—too much flour, not enough baking soda, or too much olive oil—and nothing tastes right. Everything has to be precise; there isn’t room for error.

No one would ever claim leadership is a science. Understanding how culture develops—from the leader to those they guide—is rooted in four fundamental tenets of leadership. When any leader consistently exhibits these four traits, a winning culture will inevitably follow. The four principles of leadership are:

1. Management of Attention: Do you have a plan?

2. Management of Meaning: Can you explain your plan simply?

3. Management of Trust: Can people trust your actions and behaviors?

4. Management of Self: Can you successfully lead yourself?

Notice that in these four areas, the word "strategy" doesn’t appear. So where does strategy come into play? What is the right recipe for balancing these leadership principles while integrating the essential element of strategy?

Often, when hiring, organizations prioritize strategists—people who understand how to fuel profits. Steve Jobs addressed this dynamic when discussing product design in relation to sales and marketing:

“If you were a product person, you couldn’t change the course of that company very much,” Jobs said. “So whoinfluenced the success of PepsiCo? The sales and marketing people—they were the ones that got promoted, they were the ones that ran the company.” Jobs continued, “It turns out the same thing can happen at technology companies that get monopolies. If you’re a product person at IBM or Xerox, so you make a better copier or a better computer, so what?When you have a monopoly market share, the company’s not any more successful.”

Jobs understood that leadership and vision are vital to sustained success. When strategy—focused solely on increasing profits—overshadows leadership, the details necessary to drive continued success are overlooked and marginalized.

This imbalance is often seen in the NFL when teams search for a new coach. Many owners or decision-makers prioritize candidates with strong strategic skills—someone who runs the best offense or defense—over identifying the best leader. While having someone who can install and operate the best schemes is essential, it is not as critical as finding the right leader. This misalignment creates a void that strategy alone cannot fill, leading to yet another coaching search before too long.

Jobs believed leaders should understand the design of their product. His wisdom can be summed up simply: if your company is built around a product, focus on making better and more innovative products. This requires more leadership and less focus on the strategy of selling. Selling is important, but it comes after the product is expertly led.

If you invert this order or make sales your exclusive focus, the very thing you are selling will eventually lose its value.

Leadership can survive without a great strategy. Strategy without leadership cannot. Like baking, leadership requires the right balance of ingredients. Jobs might have been the ultimate baker.

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