My current role has me interacting on a regular basis with the CEO and several VPs of a Fortune 500 company.
Now, don’t get me wrong, each of them have definite skill sets, but when it comes to business strategy, they’re just guessing like the rest of us. Of course their guesses are more informed than mine, but they are still guesses.
What I’ve noticed makes for a very effective senior leader is the ability to ask the right questions - they may have little to know domain knowledge, but they still have a good ability to smoke out a bullshit story.
Now, don’t get me wrong, each of them have definite skill sets, but when it comes to business strategy, they’re just guessing like the rest of us. Of course their guesses are more informed than mine, but they are still guesses.
What I’ve noticed makes for a very effective senior leader is the ability to ask the right questions - they may have little to know domain knowledge, but they still have a good ability to smoke out a bullshit story.