Abstract
Working in the same organization is no guarantee that common agreement exists on the challenges facing the organization or on how to move forward. Tension, mistrust, and pulling in different directions are an everyday reality. Ask a board or a group of senior managers about the market challenges and strains confronting the organization and you will hear a variety of views and opinions. In reality, the vision of the future does not need to be nailed down to the smallest detail. Events dictate that the best-paid plans can unravel. There are no watertight five-year plans. This is as it should be. No leader has a monopoly on wisdom. No board has all the answers. No chairman is omniscient.
You need a strong empathy and a very powerful desire to identify with the goals and mission of the organization that you have been invited to chair. Lord Tom Sawyer
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Notes
For further information on strategy analysis, see K. Ward, C. Bowman, and A. Kakabadse (2005), Designing World Class Corporate Strategies, Oxford: Elsevier/Heinemann.
For further information on the sales/marketing debate, see A. Kakabadse (1991), The Wealth Creators: Top People, Top Teams and Executive Best Practice, London: Kogan Page.
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© 2008 Andrew Kakabadse and Nada Kakabadse
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Kakabadse, A., Kakabadse, N. (2008). Sense making. In: Leading the board. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230589667_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230589667_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-35860-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-58966-7
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