A few years ago, in my search for a better way to define leadership, I stumbled on the work of international leadership strategist Nikos Mourkogiannis. In his book, titled “Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies“, he talks about the TIME framework that gives four essential actions that every leader must master.
• “Think: Devise a direction or outline plan.
• Inspire: Generate collective support for this direction and the kind of action that will be required.
• Mobilize: Make sure that all the relevant individuals agree to cooperate and to accept specific roles.
• Empower: Set up the systems needed to maintain momentum.”
Mourkogiannis’ TIME framework is very similar to the 5 questions of strategy proposed by Roger Martin.
Martin says to come up with strategy, one needs to ask the following questions:
- What are our broad aspirations for our organization & the concrete goals against which we can measure our progress?
- Across the potential field available to us, where will we choose to play and not play?
- In our chosen place to play, how will we choose to win against the competitors there?
- What capabilities are necessary to build and maintain to win in our chosen manner?
- What management systems are necessary to operate to build and maintain the key capabilities
Both Martin and Mourkogiannis emphasize an iterative approach rather than a hierarchical one.
I think both of these are excellent frameworks to use to define the work of a leader.
Related Article: The Job Description of a Leader.
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