The 6 Skills You Need to Become a Strategic Leader
How you can develop them today
A few years ago, I was in a business review meeting with my team, looking at charts and reports that showed how our business was doing. The numbers didn’t look good, and as everyone around the table shared their thoughts, it became clear that no one agreed on what to do next. There were a lot of ideas, worries, and quick fixes — but not much clarity.
I realized then that my job wasn’t just about making decisions; it was about seeing the bigger picture, noticing patterns others might miss, and guiding the team through the confusion. That’s when I understood what makes a leader truly strategic.
Being a strategic leader isn’t just about having a vision or setting goals. It’s about building a set of skills that help you see changes before they happen, connect the dots, and lead your team through uncertain times.
In this article, I’ll share the six key skills that every strategic leader needs — and how you can start developing them today.
1. Pattern Recognition
Have you noticed how some topics keep coming up over and over again, but in different forms or appearances?
For example, if you are a people manager, you might notice that several of your team members are missing their individual goals and deadlines, and they’re calling in sick more often. While these might seem like individual-specific instances, they may be pointing at a bigger problem. Perhaps your team is not engaged because of the nature of the work they have been doing for the past six months, or perhaps you haven’t been looking after them.
As another example, if you are a product manager, you might notice that mobile payments are becoming popular with younger buyers. As it stands, this stream of income is tiny compared to the traditional sources of revenue, so it is not seeing much attention just yet, but you can see the patterns and recognize the signs that this is something you and your company should be paying attention to.
As a strategic leader, you can recognize patterns, connect the dots, and act on them swiftly before it's too late.
How to Develop This Skill:
Stay Curious: Always ask yourself why certain things are happening. Look for the “why” behind the “what.”
Look for Patterns in Data: Spend time analyzing data from your industry or within your organization. What trends are emerging? What do the numbers tell you?
2. Systems Analysis
You may have heard of the term ‘Systems Analysis’ in different contexts, but what exactly does it mean?