There’s no doubt that Dave Lewis faces strategic challenges as he takes on the mantle of Chief Executive of Tesco following Philip Clarke’s three year tenure… equally Clarke faced challenges when he took on the role after Sir Terry Leahy’s fourteen year tenure…. What can Lewis do differently ? What (if anything) was missing in the leadership and strategic management approach of Clarke ? Is there a “secret” formula to address these challenges ?
Understanding
what’s worked for other organisations and strategic leaders, assessing
strategic models and self-reflection can make a significant contribution. “To function as a strategist, one must be able
to hold opposing views and synthesise them” (Strategy Safari, Mintzberg,
Ahlstrand, Lampel) and there certainly are opposing and complementary
views. Some that resonate for me, to
name but a handful, are Peters and Waterman’s “In Search of Excellence”,
Collins “Good to Great”, Raynor and Ahmed’s recently published “The Three Rules
: How Exceptional Companies Think”, Leahy’s “Management in Ten Words”, Kanter’s
“How great companies think differently” (Harvard Business Review, Nov 2011),
Hill’s “Collective Genius” (Harvard Business Review, June 2014).