Part 3: Mastering Technical Strategy as an Executive

Assessing the Technology Landscape

Good strategy requires honesty.

Before deciding where to go, leaders need a clear picture of where they are.

Every organization carries a mix of strengths and weaknesses in its technology environment. Some systems work well. Others exist mainly because replacing them feels inconvenient.

At several points in our growth at eGroup, we stepped back and asked a difficult question.

If we were building this organization from scratch today, would we design our technology stack the same way?

Sometimes the answer was yes. Sometimes it was not.

These conversations often led to important changes. We modernized parts of our infrastructure. We retired tools that no longer served us well. We strengthened our security capabilities because the risk landscape was evolving quickly.

This kind of assessment requires one of the most important STRIVE values. Responsibility. Leaders must be willing to take ownership of the current reality and make changes when necessary.

Technology environments naturally accumulate complexity over time. The role of leadership is to periodically step back, evaluate honestly, and simplify wherever possible.

Clarity about the current environment makes future decisions far easier.

Next in the series:

The Leadership Traits That Make Strategy Work