The 5 Truths for Transformational Leaders

3Truth 3: Establish a Mission‐Driven Strategy

“Strategy is not the consequence of planning, but the opposite; it is the starting point.”

Henry Mintzberg

Achieving visionary outcomes is extremely difficult. There are no simple pathways to eliminating or reducing poverty, preventing or treating drug and alcohol abuse, keeping our environment pristine, providing comprehensive health care to everyone, enabling children from challenging circumstances to succeed, or to fix the myriad challenges we face as a nation that are addressed by the missions of nonprofit organizations. Transformational leaders succeed by clearly articulating and aligning organizations on a thoughtful, evidenced‐informed strategy for how the organization will pursue its mission. Strategy is not the same as a strategic plan. As Mintzberg suggests, strategy is the starting point for planning. Strategy aligns, inspires, and guides decisions big and small. Strategy provides board and staff leaders with a clear understanding about these baseline issues:

• What difference the organization makes
• How the organization will operate to achieve superior results
• How the organization acquires resources

An effective strategy provides extraordinary clarity about how the organization achieves its mission. The best strategies are simple and easy to understand on the surface but complex underneath. The essence can be communicated in a few sentences. CPOs lead strategy development but all stakeholders provide input. Leaders ...