Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the uniqueness of top strategic leadership, and looks at the characteristics of top strategic leadership. It explains the multinational and multilateral context, talking illuminatingly about ‘Coalitions of the Variously Willing’ and quoting Winston Churchill’s aphorism that ‘there is at least one thing worse than fighting with allies – and that is to fight without them’. The book examines strategic decision making, drawing on some of the behavioural insights that have emerged in the last few decades. It focuses on the vital task of talent development. The most fundamental difference is that almost all businesses are ‘engaged’ every day, at least during business hours: fighting for customers; market share; physical and intellectual assets; and for money and profits. Strategy always works within a complex ecosystem and in large concerns this ecosystem is increasingly global.