Michelle, the newly appointed sheriff of a small California town, found herself drowning in responsibilities. Her staff was sprawling, and her boss — a distant city official — offered little direct support. Each day, Michelle faced a whirlwind of problems, from operational challenges to political complexities, leaving her feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.
Despite her best efforts, she was trapped in an endless cycle of reactive decision-making, constantly firefighting instead of leading strategically. Rather than guiding her team, she was over-functioning, absorbing their burdens and believing it was her responsibility to keep everything afloat while her team remained underdeveloped and unempowered.
Michelle’s inability to step back and take a broader, strategic approach demonstrated a lack of strategic leadership — a struggle common to many leaders. For example, research by McKinsey found that only 29% of senior leaders dedicate more than a third of their time to long-term initiatives.
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The balcony view: Seeing the whole picture
While operational excellence is critical, it is strategic leadership that enables organizations to create a unique and valuable position, according to Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. For this, a balcony view is needed, where leaders step back from immediate pressures and observe the larger patterns, dynamics and strategic challenges affecting their organization, allowing them to make more informed and adaptive decisions.
A balcony perspective allows leaders to identify emerging opportunities and threats, align organizational resources effectively, foster innovation rather than just efficiency and make decisions that reinforce the organization’s core identity and strategic positioning. In doing so, leaders see not just what is happening but why it is happening, how different elements connect and what long-term moves are necessary to achieve sustainable success.
The balcony view is necessary to navigate complexity, align resources effectively and ensure long-term success.
The question, then, is: How do leaders find their way to the balcony?
The Strategic Leadership Constellation framework provides a structured approach to developing strategic leadership by integrating systems thinking, positioning and personal leadership development:
1. Cultivate systems thinking
Strategic leaders understand that organizations function as complex systems rather than isolated units. They recognize patterns, anticipate second-order effects and make decisions based on a broader understanding of interdependencies.
For Michelle, this meant mapping out her department’s workflow and relationships. Instead of handling each crisis as it arose, she took time to assess the larger dynamics at play. She realized that some deputies were underperforming not because they lacked skill but because they weren’t receiving clear instructions. By restructuring communication and setting explicit expectations, she reduced daily confusion and improved efficiency.
Try the following to develop your own systems thinking:
- Map out key stakeholders, processes and external forces that influence your organization.
- Use frameworks like Porter’s Five Forces or the VRIO model to assess competitive positioning.
- Engage in scenario planning to anticipate potential disruptions and prepare strategic responses.
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2. Refining strategic identity and positioning
Strategic leadership requires aligning both personal role identity and organizational identity with long-term positioning — leaders who neglect this alignment struggle to create sustainable competitive advantage. Michelle initially saw herself as the “fixer” of every problem. Through coaching, she redefined her role as a leader and strategist, focusing on policy development, department-wide training, and long-term planning. At the same time, her department needed realignment.
She applied the 5R Model to reaffirm the department’s core values of integrity and public service, regenerate a culture of accountability and reimagine the department’s role in modern policing. By transforming both her identity and her team’s, Michelle fostered clarity, consistency and strategic alignment.
Improve alignment between your own strategic identity and positioning through activities such as:
- Listing three tasks only you should handle and delegating the rest
- Asking team members what values they believe drive the organization
- Shifting discussions from daily operations to long-term impact.
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3. Foster strategic competence across the organization
To lead effectively from the balcony, leaders must ensure that strategic competence is not limited to a select few at the top but is developed throughout the entire organization. Building strategic competence across an organization requires equipping employees at all levels with the ability to think and act strategically rather than confining strategic leadership to top executives. Research has found that many employees desire this competence but lack access to the necessary development programs (Gentry, 2013).
Without such skills, organizations risk stagnation, as employees focus solely on executing tasks rather than anticipating challenges and opportunities. Michelle realized that her department lacked strategic competence because they were too focused on immediate problems. To shift this, she introduced weekly strategy meetings where deputies discussed not just what was happening but why it was happening. She also identified strong mentors within her team to provide guidance to newer officers, fostering leadership at all levels.
To embed strategic competence throughout your ranks:
- Implement cohort-based leadership development programs that bring employees together to analyze real-world challenges, experiment with decision-making and engage in structured peer learning.
- Pair employees with senior mentors for a cognitive apprenticeship using real-time decision-making, guided reflection and active engagement in strategic thinking.
- Encourage weekly strategic discussions where employees analyze past decisions, assess emerging challenges and explore alternative approaches.
Michelle’s transformation came when she embraced the balcony view and shifted from firefighting daily crises to leading with strategic clarity. By redefining her role, setting clear expectations and empowering her team, she strengthened both her leadership and her organization’s long-term positioning.
Strategic leadership demands stepping back, aligning identity with strategy and fostering competence across all levels. Leaders who master this balance can navigate uncertainty with confidence, ensuring their organizations thrive amid complexity. The first step is simple but profound: elevate your perspective and lead from the balcony.
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