One of the most important success factors for strategy execution is for leaders to consider it their No. 1 priority, as I describe in my book Strategy = Execution. Every leader has only one core duty: Execution. That’s why the E in CEO stands for Executive. And if execution is what it’s all about, what competences do modern leaders need to have? 

Strategy execution requires more than spouting ideas about leadership. You need to walk the talk, because actions speak louder than words. Writing down your strategic goals does not equal achieving them. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and the proof of your strategy is in its execution. There is a great anecdote about Conrad Hilton, founder of the eponymous hotel chain, who in his mid-80s finally retired and was honored by a dozen captains of industry. At the end of the evening, Hilton shuffled onto the stage to answer the MC’s predictable question “Mr. Hilton, what is the secret of your business success?” His answer was as succinct as it was brilliant: “Remember to tuck the shower curtain into the bath tub.” And with that he turned and walked off the stage. 

Operational intensity 

Obviously, this is an oversimplification. Leadership in strategy execution requires more. It requires all sorts of competencies and good timing: doing the right things at the right time. If you ask me, operational intensity should be a required competency for every leader. A friend of mine is on the Board of Directors at Unilever. He’s proud of the company’s social responsibility policies and the growing bias for action he sees among his colleagues. This change goes hand-in-hand with well-chosen concepts and language. The notion of operational intensity represents a bias toward execution at every level, from the boardroom to the mailroom. My friend gave me an example of this: every critical change project has its own What’s App group connecting all the key players from the Execution Coalition—a change management concept I introduce in my book, see Building Block 4—enabling the coalition to make far-reaching management decisions in less than 48 hours, no matter where on the globe the decision-makers are. 

No big egos 

Another contributing factor is service-minded, constructive leadership. The most effective leaders do not have big egos. Executive coach, psychoanalyst and INSEAD professor Manfred Kets de Vries has explored the more perverse aspects of charismatic leaders’ personalities. We all have enough first-hand experience to know that organizations are full of egos and politics, from the boardroom to the mailroom. So, let’s be real and put things on the table as much as possible. Let’s respect each other’s sensitivities and beliefs. Remember the saying attributed to Israeli general and politician Yitzak Rabin: “Always leave your enemies room to make an about-face without losing face.” 

Necessity, simplicity and focus 

In Must-Win Battles, Peter Killing, Thomas Malnight and Tracey Keys describe how important it is to not fight every battle, but to pick a limited set of must-win battles. However, beware of paring this set down too far. Don’t wager everything on two big battles, but spread the risk a little thinner. Don’t rack your brain about whether you should pick your battles based on urgency or excitement. These days, it’s usually a mix. Your must-win battles are the arena in which you have to force the real breakthrough. That’s not easy, but it can be done. Leaders of large corporations always stress necessity, focus and simplicity. They word their strategic goals clearly and succinctly, often in three to five main points. Such simplicity is powerful. 

Successful leaders in strategy execution excel at systematically creating focus. They continually reiterate the big why behind the strategy in order to motivate their people. They constantly redefine the current assignments in order to press home what is and isn’t important. Creating focus also means they know when to say no. After the collapse of European electronic engineering firm Imtech in 2015, one of the senior managers of a large international trading company admitted he had earned his shareholders most by saying no to requests for new initiatives. 

Deferred gratification 

Successful leaders in strategy execution know how to deal with the fears and temptations they face along the way. For example, a fear of having the wrong focus and falling even further behind the competition; or the fear of missing new opportunities, FOMO. One thing is clear: leaders without focus drive themselves, and everyone around them, crazy. If they don’t even know where they’re headed and why, why would anyone want to follow them? Would-be agility and flexibility projects a sense of vigor and freshness at first. But pretty soon, the underlying reality of a wavering organization without a true north will begin to shine through. 

Real strategy execution requires perseverance. It is about deferred gratification, by definition. Leaders who practice this meet a lot of resistance. The hardest moments are those when someone offers excellent arguments that reinforce your own doubts. After all, there are pros and cons to every option. 

Required competencies 

Modern leaders need new competencies to ensure success in strategy execution. Leadership is the most popular topic of management books, so finding resources is simple. What isn’t simple, though, is identifying which leadership qualities determine success in strategy execution. But that is exactly what we have focused on in our research and case studies. The result is a list of 12 competencies that distinguish an excellent 21st century leader from a mediocre one. Any corporate HR department or headhunter is welcome to use it. 

Modern leaders: 

1. are strategically and analytically competent; 
2. can communicate the why, what and how in an appealing way; 
3. have a founder’s mentality; 
4. can simplify and remove obstacles; 
5. work systematically on expanding execution; 
6. create and force decisions and breakthroughs; 
7. believe in collective intelligence and so objectivize decision-making; 
8. build trust; 
9. have authority and just enough paranoia; 
10. are always working on themselves; 
11. are curious and have more questions than answers; 
12. resist the tyranny of old-school change management.