When you have to execute a strategy, you disagree with

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Core Premise

The article focuses on a common leadership dilemma: you are tasked with executing a strategy or decision from senior leadership that you fundamentally disagree with — whether because you think it’s the wrong choice, it violates ethical norms, or it will harm people or performance. The authors frame this as a leadership paradox: you must uphold your personal professionalism and integrity while still honoring your organizational responsibilities.

Key Themes and Guidance

1. Separation of Judgment vs. Execution
   • Recognize that executing a decision is not the same as endorsing it. Your role as a leader isn’t simply “comply quietly” or “fight the decision” — there is a third option: steward the execution with integrity.
   • This reframing allows you to maintain credibility with both leadership and your team.

2. Clarify Before Reacting
   • Ask disciplined questions early to understand the rationale behind the decision:

   • What problem is the strategy solving?

   • What trade-offs were considered?

   • What does success look like in staged timeframes (e.g., 30/60/90 days)?
     • Separating facts, assumptions, and emotions keeps your response rational and constructive instead of reactive.

3. Focus on Influence, Not Control
   • Identify what aspects you can influence (communication, team support, mitigation plans) and what you must implement as decided.
   • Use your influence to protect what matters: people’s dignity, clarity of communication, and trust within your organization.

4. Lead with Humanity
   • Avoid hiding behind “just following orders.” How you deliver the strategy matters.
   • Deliver it with clear facts, humane language, and without unnecessary drama or cruelty.
   • Pay particular attention to how those impacted experience the transition — these shapes longer-term trust and culture.

5. Advocate Where Possible
   • Advocate for fair criteria, support mechanisms (e.g., severance, transition support), or refinements that reduce harm.
   • Even small adjustments can protect your team and strengthen execution outcomes.

6. Preserve Your Integrity
   • If a decision crosses ethical or legal boundaries, raise concerns formally with documentation.
   • If your conscience really cannot reconcile the strategy with your core values or professional standards, consider alternative paths (escalation, counsel, or even exit) that protect your integrity.

7. Managing Trust on Both Sides
   • How you handle execution when you disagree affects trust upwards (with leadership) and downwards (with your team).
   • Executing well under disagreement can increase your influence over time and build credibility, not just within your team but with senior leaders.

Management vs Leadership

 Management is more tactical and Leadership is more strategic.

 One should be able to differentiate between terms – “tactical and strategic”, “mission and vision” in order to differentiate Management and Leadership.

 

 

First Line Manager

• Management: 80%
• Leadership: 20%

Mid-Managers

• Management: 50%
• Leadership: 50%

Sr. Manager

• Management: 20%
• Leadership: 80%

 

 

 

Problem Solving

Every day, each one of us are confronted with some situations which needs solution. Someone misses the bus to his office, someone suddenly falls sick, someone has some other problem.These problems are so common that they are treated as routine. Such things get solved each day, and life goes on. 

 

But in life, all problems are not as simple as the ones mentioned. Imagine the loss of life of someone whom we love and care for, huge financial losses leading to adverse living conditions, loss of employment, deterioration of health and so on. These are difficult to face and makes us clueless about “what next”. Truly these are real problems of life. Thus, a problem maybe defined as a situation which is either confusing or that shatters us. “Problem solving” is what we do, when we don’t understand what to do. It involves a process of working through the details of a problem to arrive at the solution. Solving involves both analytical and creative skills. During such situations, the first thing that we have to do is to recognize that there is a problem and accept it. Living in denial and dodging things makes the solution more difficult and distant. Occasionally, there maybe problems for which time holds the solution. This does not mean that we should sleep over our problems. 

 

In academics at school/college, problem solving is part of both teaching and assessment. Be it problem solving in physics, maths or engineering, the benefits not only relate to developing expertise in domain, but also builds the general capability of problem solving in handling day to day issues. The solution sometimes maybe very creative. Children are generally very creative. They can do out of the box thinking too which is important in problem solving. It is important to nurture problem solving skills from a very young age. Here is an interesting story to illustrate the same. 

 

A professional lady was on a “work from home” mode on a particular day. She was very busy working on her computer but her 5 year old daughter kept disturbing her. To keep her daughter busy for a while, the mother found a map of the world printed in a magazine.The mother quickly pulled out the page and tore it into several pieces. She then gave it to her daughter and asked her to put the map together. The daughter was happy and went to her room. The mother was happy that she could work peacefully for another 30 minutes as that was the time needed to put the pieces together. The daughter came back running in 5 minutes and announced that she finished the puzzle. The mother was surprised! She asked her daughter how she was able to put the pieces together so fast. The daughter replied “It was very simple Amma. The other side of the map was the picture of a lady’s face. I just put the picture of the face in place.” 

 

Life’s problems may not necessarily be confined to self and family. Problems may be at school, workplace or the neighbor hood. Each problem maybe unique and its solution too. Though there is no standard method to solve all problems, the following steps generally help in arriving at a   solution. 

 

The first step is the description or the definition of the problem. This stage consists of asking the right questions and collecting and organizing all information relating to the problem. This is followed by the definition of the end goal.

 

The second step would be to plan a solution. This can be done by breaking down the big problem into smaller ones which are easy to solve. This stage also involves assessing various possible solutions.

 

The third step is to implement the plan and continuously asses the progress. 

 

The fourth step would be to check for the right result or the end goal. A feedback at this stage would also help in fine-tuning wherever required. 

 

When one has a problem, it is better to take help from people who are directly affected by the problem as they understand it better than someone external to the problem. The story below illustrates the same.

 

Once a toothpaste factory had a unique problem. The factory would manufacture the paste, fill it into a metal toothpaste tube, which would in turn would be packed inside a thick labeled paper casing / box. These individual casings would be packed in a carton box and sent to shops. Customers buying individual toothpaste cases found the toothpaste tubes missing in the box. This annoyed the customers and the customers started switching to other brands. The CEO of the toothpaste company started getting worried. He called an external consulting firm to help solve his problem. The external agency came, studied their production line and gave a detailed report suggesting improvements. This took about 6 months and a costed a big sum. The agency suggested to install a weighing scale at the end of the production line where the toothpaste boxes landed. If the box had the tube inside, it would match the preset weight and would move forward. If the tube was missing in the box, the weight would be less and the production line would sound an alarm and the whole production process would stop till someone removed the empty box. 

 

The CEO was happy that he did a smart thing by hiring the external agency to solve the problem. After few weeks, when the CEO was reviewing the production report, he noticed something very unusual. The number of defective boxes reaching the weighing scale had come down to zero. He asked his production team if they had changed anything in the production process for which they replied that there was no change. The CEO decided to visit the the factory to check this. When he visited the weighing scale section, he noticed that a small table fan was kept just before the weighing scale. He observed that the empty boxes were blown off by the fan even before they reached the weighing scale. He asked employees around as to who had kept the fan there.They said “Sir, that is kept by the guy who is responsible for taking out the empty boxes from the scale when the alarm sounded. He was tired of running from his place every time the alarm went on. So, he kept the fan there.” The CEO realized that the employee working at the production line on a routine job was much better than the big consultant he hired! 

 

One of the take-aways from the story is that creativity can solve any problem.

Thanks to Dr. H S Nagaraja