Podcasts

High-impact leadership requires a CEO to think differently, mastering different modes of thinking such as Critical thinking, lateral thinking, strategic thinking and so on – and importantly knowing when to use what!

For example Critical thinking is about evaluating data, challenging assumptions, and separating signal from noise. Critical thinking is useful when teams disagree on a solution or traditional approaches are not working, or even asking is this relevant, or what is missing here.

Lateral thinking is about creativity – allowing one to step outside linear logic, challenging legacy assumptions, even sounding irrational at first, and seeing possibilities that others miss. This comes handy for facilitating innovation, reframing constraints, or creating breakthrough solutions.

Strategic thinking on the other hand is about the direction, the long-term aspects, the larger perspective. It involves zooming out, seeing patterns over time, making conscious trade-offs and connecting today’s choices to tomorrow’s outcomes. It assumes significance while choosing which turf to play on, how to play, and making decisions that have long-term consequences.

Then there is Systems thinking – perhaps a bit underrated, yet quite powerful. It’s about seeing the inter-connectedness and inter-dependencies of factors involved in a problem or a given situation, and connecting the dots. It comes handy when identifying patterns, relationships and the dynamics that get played out amongst the variables.

High-impact Leadership is not about thinking harder. It’s not even about strengthening a particular mode of thinking – It’s about consciously choosing and applying the appropriate mode as needed.

My name is PK Narayanan

Wishing you the best!