The strategic leadership toolkit: the tools every senior leader needs

Gemma and I have recorded a lot of episodes of The Strategic Leader by now, and if I'm honest, even I struggle to remember which one covers what. People ask me all the time which episode to listen to for this, that or the other, and I realise I genuinely can't recall. So for series six, we're doing something different. We're building what we're calling the strategic leadership toolkit: somewhere in the region of ten to twelve essential tools, models and behaviours that we think every senior leader should have close to hand.

A toolkit, not a wish list

Gemma has a lovely way of describing this. Picture a fairly shabby DIY toolkit. Some tools you reach for all the time, you know exactly what to do with them. Others you have to root around for, or you've genuinely forgotten they're even in there. It's the same with a washbag or a makeup bag, if we're honest. There's stuff in the bottom you never use, and it just gets in the way of the things you actually reach for.

That's what series six is about. Not adding more to the pile, but working out what genuinely deserves a place in your leadership toolkit, what you might be leaving out as a result, and when to actually use each tool to your best advantage.

There's an old line, not mine, I wish it was, that if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If you've only got one tool in your bag, that's what you'll use for everything, whether or not it's the right one for the job. The whole point of series six is to give you more choice, and to help you be more intentional about which tool you pick up and when, rather than defaulting to the same old leadership hammer every time.

What counts as a tool

We're using the word tool quite broadly here. It could be a model or a framework, but it could just as easily be a behaviour, an approach, an attitude or a feeling. Gemma made a good point early on in this conversation: there are some real behavioural angles we'll be exploring too, so we'd encourage you to broaden your own thinking about what counts as a tool in your kit.

Gemma's non negotiable: self awareness

I asked Gemma what her number one tool would be if she only had ten, and she didn't hesitate. Self awareness. How well do you know yourself? How do you recognise your own impact? What strengths do you bring to a given situation, and where are the gaps that might hold you back?

What struck me most in this part of the conversation was the practical edge to it. It's not just insight for insight's sake. It's the ability to self regulate, to notice when you're wound up, frustrated or a bit too trigger happy, and to think about the impact that might have on the people around you. It's also about recognising when your ego is at work, when you're actually protecting your own interests rather than the interests of your team, and being honest with yourself about whether something is your personal preference or a genuinely well thought out strategic view. Gemma also linked it to leadership style, recognising your natural or chosen approach, and knowing when you might need to flex it for a different situation or person.

My pick: the strategic one pager

Mine went in a different direction. I chose the ability to write a strategic one pager, though it's really about more than writing. It's the skill of taking a big idea, or a room full of conflicting opinions, and distilling it down into something clear enough that everyone can understand it and act on it. Sometimes that's a written document or a slide. Sometimes it's simply the ability to summarise an hour of meaty discussion into a few clear next steps.

Gemma told a great story about a CEO she once worked with who had a strict one or two slide rule. You couldn't go in with a full deck. He preferred a flip chart and a pen, and you had to be able to explain your thinking to him in the room. Uncomfortable in the moment, but such a good discipline, because if you can't distil your thinking down like that, it's a fair question whether you've actually thought it through.

We also talked about AI here, and I want to be clear about where I stand on it. I think it's brilliant for helping me structure or summarise my thinking. I still want to do my own thinking. But there's real value in being able to draw it, capture it in a few bullets, or say it out loud in a way that someone else immediately understands, because that clarity in how you communicate it reflects the clarity in your head. In a world where a million decisions and opinions are coming at you every day, having that stable, well articulated place to stand makes it so much easier to prioritise and to make decisions with confidence.

Even overs: deciding what wins when push comes to shove

One idea that came up as we talked about prioritising which tools make the final cut was the concept of an even over. It's a way of pre-agreeing your priorities before you're under pressure. Classic example: on time, on budget, and to the right quality. You want all three, but in reality, one usually has to give. An even over means you've already decided which one wins if it comes to a compromise. Is it quality even over the delivery schedule, so you'll run late to protect the standard of the work? Or is it price even over quality, so you'll compromise slightly on quality to hit the budget?

It doesn't mean the other things stop mattering. It just means you've made that call in advance, rather than scrambling to work it out in the moment.

Where we go from here

We haven't finalised our full list of ten to twelve tools yet, and honestly, Gemma and I suspect we'll overlap on at least half of them and have a proper debate about the rest. Some will be things we've mentioned before on the podcast, so we'll be pointing you back to earlier episodes for more depth. Others will be entirely new. Either way, we'll be arguing our case for why each one deserves a place in the bag, and what we'd leave out even over something else we might really like.

Worth a listen if...

You've listened to a fair few leadership podcasts, including ours, and struggle to remember which idea or model came from where.

You want a more intentional way of deciding which leadership tool to reach for, rather than defaulting to the same one every time.

You're curious about self awareness, strategic clarity, or how to prioritise when everything feels equally important.

Fi Craig is the founder of GoodThinking, a Bristol-based team and executive coaching practice working with senior leaders and their teams across the UK and internationally. The Strategic Leader podcast is co-presented with Gemma Bullivant.