The job duties of a chief strategy officer revolve around driving their organization to systematically review and improve business functionality and performance. Chief strategy officers initiate new programs, cultivate complex relationships and connect opportunities to services and capabilities.

Leadership

Chief strategy officers lead by example to create a climate of motivation, positive energy and meaningful empowerment. They guide employees to take personal responsibility, productively develop new skills and strengthen team capacities.

They assess, select, recognize and promote diverse talent to capitalize on core competencies, innovative ideas and competitive opportunities. A chief strategy officer who works in the IT industry may lead the technology planning and product management activities for software products. They may work with the management team and architect engineering team to design the future road map of software products. They provide leadership and governance for strategies across all entities and enterprises.

Strategic Action

Chief strategy officers analyze how potential decisions may impact the whole organization within risk models and decision making frameworks. They use their broad knowledge of values, long-term vision, risk acceptance and strategic thinking to benefit their organization. They typically use an enterprise-wide perspective to translate broad strategies into departmental actions and individual responsibilities. They create a clear view of the future and inspire others to accept and embrace their plans as they evolve. They are the strategic voice for executives and senior leadership teams who develop precisely clear HR, finance, marketing, resource and management strategies. They streamline and simplify business processes in order to maximize internal efforts and deliver optimal customer experiences.

Customer Focus

Chief strategy officers strive to integrate industry strategy, change management and strategic consulting teams together in order to increase productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction. They focus on meeting the needs of clients through creating customized customer strategies, operational tactics and internal processes. Their capability road maps and risk assessments drive organic growth through high quality customer care and management. They meaningfully maintain connections with internal and external customers to build emotional harmony, strategic engagement and customer advocacy. They develop and share deep customer knowledge to deliver results and deliverables that provides value beyond contracts and expectations.

Accountability

Accountability is important for chief strategy officers because they must continually meet and exceed established expectations. They take responsibility for achieving results and encourage all others to do by promoting transparency and accountability. They encourage management to hold employees responsible for maintaining focus, reliability, attention to detail and prioritization to drive outcomes. When they see opportunities to contribute, they take the initiative to create and share solutions. They increase accountability by working closely with operational leadership to ensure that all approaches are fully integrated across the enterprise and through the entire organization. They collaborate with senior leadership to design and develop human resource methods that create better disciplined approaches to productivity and employee engagement.

Professional Development

Chief strategy officers often encourage professional development and career training for employees because they recognize that these practices increase employee participation and performance. For example, they may institute an employee tuition program that reimburses employees for college classes taken or degrees earned in their relevant fields. They may host training sessions for management that teach them how to analyze and improve the value chain, develop analysis-based strategic plans and increase innovation and collaboration. They may also work with HR and organizational development leaders to offer internal classes on leadership, team building, communication and people management skills.

The basic requirement for a job as a chief strategy officer is a master’s degree in a field like management or business administration, and at least ten years’ work experience as a strategy consultant. A comprehensive analysis of the job duties of a chief strategy officer is available at the Harvard Business Review’s website.

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