Strategic leadership examples

What do good strategic leadership examples have in common?

The best examples share a pattern. A leader reads a change in the environment earlier or more clearly than others, makes a hard choice about direction, and then aligns the organisation behind it. That maps neatly onto the six skills identified by Schoemaker, Krupp and Howland in Harvard Business Review: anticipate, challenge, interpret, decide, align and learn.

The twelve cases below were chosen because they are well documented by reputable sources, they cover different sectors and situations (growth, turnaround, crisis and reinvention), and each one teaches a distinct lesson. For the theory behind them, see my strategic leadership guide.

Strategic leadership examples at a glance

12 real strategic leadership examples

1. Satya Nadella, Microsoft (2014 onwards)

The situation: By the early 2010s Microsoft was still hugely profitable from Windows and Office but was widely seen as having missed the shift to mobile. Its internal culture was known for rivalry between divisions.

What they did: Nadella, previously head of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group, became chief executive in February 2014 and told employees the company had to thrive in a "mobile and cloud-first world" (Fortune). He said renewing the culture would be his highest priority, and "growth mindset" became a company-wide mantra. Microsoft's market value rose from about $300 billion when he took over to more than $1 trillion (Business Insider).

The lesson: Strategy and culture have to change together. A new direction will not stick if the old behaviours are still rewarded.

2. Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo (2006 to 2018)

The situation: PepsiCo's core products, sugary drinks and salty snacks, faced growing pressure from health concerns, regulation and changing consumer tastes.

What they did: Soon after becoming chief executive in 2006, Nooyi launched Performance with Purpose, which combined financial performance with three goals: healthier products, environmental sustainability and looking after employees (BCG interview). She reshaped the portfolio towards healthier options, for example buying Naked Juice in 2007 and later setting targets to cut sugar, salt and fat. Net revenue grew from $35 billion to $63.5 billion over her tenure (The Grocer). She also faced activist pressure to split the company and resisted it.

The lesson: Anticipate where your market is going and start moving the portfolio before you are forced to, even when investors want short-term results.

3. Alan Mulally, Ford (from 2006)

The situation: When Mulally arrived from Boeing in 2006, Ford was losing billions of dollars a year and had a sprawling portfolio of brands.

What they did: In late 2006 Ford mortgaged nearly all its assets, including the blue oval logo, to raise about $23.5 billion. Under the "One Ford" plan it sold subsidiaries, dropped dozens of older models, cut the North American workforce and focused on fewer, better global products. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, Ford had enough cash to avoid the government bailouts that GM and Chrysler needed (NBC News).

The lesson: Decisive action before a crisis buys you options during it. Raising money while you still can is a strategic choice, not just a finance one.

4. Ørsted, formerly DONG Energy (2008 onwards)

The situation: Around 2008 to 2009 the Danish utility generated about 85% of its heat and power from coal. A failed coal plant project in Germany and the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit signalled that the world was moving away from coal (McKinsey).

What they did: Management adopted an "85/15" vision: flip the mix to 85% renewable. The company focused on offshore wind, sold its oil and gas business, and renamed itself Ørsted in 2017 because, as its chairman said, the old name no longer reflected who it was (CNBC). By 2019 the renewable share was 86%, more than two decades ahead of its original target, and Ørsted was the world's largest offshore wind producer. Henrik Poulsen, chief executive from 2012, led much of the acceleration.

The lesson: A simple, measurable vision can guide a long transformation. "85/15" was easy to remember and easy to track.

5. Steve Jobs, Apple (1997)

The situation: When Jobs returned in 1997, Apple was losing money and selling a confusing range of products that overlapped with each other.

What they did: He cut more than 70% of Apple's hardware and software products, including the Newton, and reduced the Mac line to a simple four-box grid: consumer and professional, desktop and portable. He also agreed a deal under which Microsoft bought $150 million of Apple stock and committed to keep making Office for the Mac (Macworld).

The lesson: Strategy is as much about what you stop doing as what you start. Focus freed resources for the products that later revived the company.

6. Lou Gerstner, IBM (1993 to 2002)

The situation: When Gerstner became chief executive in 1993, IBM had just posted a loss of about $8 billion and plans were underway to split it into separate businesses (Knowledge at Wharton).

What they did: Gerstner stopped the break-up, reasoning that customers wanted one company to integrate technology from many suppliers. He called keeping IBM together the most important decision he made. He moved IBM towards services and integrated solutions, committed to open standards and changed pay to reward overall company performance rather than individual units.

The lesson: Challenge the consensus. The obvious answer (break it up) was already in motion; the strategic insight came from listening to customers.

7. Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, LEGO (from 2004)

The situation: In the early 2000s LEGO had expanded into theme parks, video games and other ventures and was losing money fast. Knudstorp described the company as being on a "burning platform" (Roland Berger).

What they did: After becoming chief executive in 2004, he controlled cash, sold the Legoland parks, cut the number of different parts made and refocused on the core brick and core customers. By 2009 LEGO was growing again, with revenue rising more than 20% a year.

The lesson: In a crisis, survival comes first, then focus on what makes you distinctive. Diversification that does not build on your core strengths can destroy value.

8. Dave Lewis, Tesco (2014 to 2020)

The situation: Lewis joined from Unilever in 2014 as discounters Aldi and Lidl were taking share. Three weeks in, he uncovered a £325 million overstatement of profits (The Grocer).

What they did: He confronted the accounting problem openly, simplified the range through "Project Reset" (from around 90,000 product lines), launched the Jack's discount format and, in 2017, completed the £3.9 billion merger with Booker, the UK's largest wholesaler.

The lesson: Rebuilding trust is part of strategy. Customers, staff and investors needed to believe in Tesco again before growth could follow.

9. Reed Hastings, Netflix (2007 onwards)

The situation: In 2007 Netflix was a successful DVD-by-post business. Broadband was improving, but streaming was still basic.

What they did: Netflix launched streaming in January 2007 as "Watch Now", a small add-on for DVD subscribers with about 1,000 titles. It kept investing, moved into original programming with House of Cards in 2013, and within about a decade had around 87 million streaming subscribers compared with about 4.3 million DVD users (Quartz).

The lesson: Be willing to disrupt your own business. Netflix built the service that would replace its profitable core before a competitor did it for them.

10. Paul Polman, Unilever (2009 to 2018)

The situation: Polman took over in January 2009, in the middle of the financial crisis, with investor pressure focused on short-term results (overview).

What they did: He stopped giving short-term earnings guidance, arguing that quarterly targets pushed managers into decisions that harmed long-term performance. In November 2010 Unilever launched its Sustainable Living Plan, aiming to grow the business while halving the environmental footprint of its products and helping a billion people improve their health and wellbeing. Polman argued that growth at any price was not viable (FoodIngredientsFirst).

The lesson: Strategic leaders shape the time horizon their organisation works to. Changing what investors expect can be as important as changing what the business does.

11. Mary Barra, General Motors (2014 onwards)

The situation: When Barra became chief executive in 2014, GM was emerging from bankruptcy and government ownership, with operations in many markets that earned poor returns.

What they did: She set out a vision of a future with "zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion" (3BL Media) and made hard portfolio choices. In 2017 GM completed the $2.3 billion sale of Opel and Vauxhall to PSA and exited markets including India and South Africa so it could focus resources on higher-return opportunities (Fox Business).

The lesson: Exiting markets can be the most strategic decision of all. Resources tied up in weak positions cannot fund the future.

12. Howard Schultz, Starbucks (2008)

The situation: Schultz returned as chief executive in January 2008, worried that rapid expansion and automation had diluted the Starbucks experience and that rivals were catching up.

What they did: In a highly visible move, Starbucks closed about 7,100 US stores for three hours one evening to retrain around 135,000 staff, including on espresso skills (NBC News).

The lesson: Symbolic actions communicate strategy. Closing every store sent a clearer message about quality to staff and customers than any memo could.

Which example fits your situation?

Strategic leadership looks different depending on the starting point. Grouping the cases by situation makes them easier to use.

Turnaround: the business is in trouble now

Apple, IBM, LEGO, Ford and Tesco were all in serious difficulty. The common thread is speed and focus: protect cash, cut what does not fit, and rebuild around a clear core. In a turnaround the leadership style is often more directive, because there is no time for long consultation. My page on strategic leadership styles explains when that is appropriate.

Reinvention: the business is fine today but threatened tomorrow

Microsoft, Netflix, Ørsted and PepsiCo were profitable when their leaders began to change direction. This is harder in some ways, because nobody feels the urgency. The leader has to create it, usually through a compelling vision and patient alignment work over many years.

Refocus: the business has lost its edge

Starbucks and GM show leaders pulling the organisation back to what it should be good at. Sometimes that means a symbolic reset; sometimes it means selling or closing operations that drain resources.

Redefine: changing what success means

Unilever under Polman shows a leader changing the time horizon and the measures of success themselves. This is the most ambitious form of strategic leadership, because it involves persuading investors and the wider market, not just employees.

What lessons can you take from these examples?

Looking across all twelve, six lessons stand out. They line up closely with the six skills from the HBR research.

Two further points are worth noting. First, almost every case involved giving something up: products, markets, a business unit or short-term earnings. Strategy without sacrifice is rare. Second, most of these leaders spent as much effort on people and culture as on the strategic choice itself. That is the difference between strategic leadership and strategic planning.

It is also worth being honest that these are not stories of flawless heroes. Nooyi faced investor criticism and some product reversals; Gerstner's critics argue parts of the IBM recovery are overstated; LEGO's sales dipped again in 2017. Strategic leadership is about making good choices under uncertainty, not about never being wrong.

How can you apply these lessons in your own role?

1. Run your own "85/15" test. Can you describe where your area needs to be in five years in one memorable, measurable phrase?
2. Draw your own four-box grid. If you were Jobs in 1997, which of your products, reports or projects would you cut to focus on what matters?
3. Ask Gerstner's question. What do your customers actually need that your current structure makes hard to deliver?
4. Look for your Schultz moment. What visible action would show your team that the strategy is real?

Models help structure these questions. The Ansoff matrix clarifies growth options, the BCG matrix helps with portfolio choices like Apple's and GM's, and Kotter's 8 steps help with the alignment work Nadella and Schultz did.

Where can you read more about strategic leaders?

If you want the traits behind these cases, see what makes a strategic leader. For the six skills in depth, see strategic leadership skills. Several of these leaders have written their own accounts; I include the best of them in my list of best strategic leadership books.

My own book, Becoming A Strategic Business Leader, is a concise guide to the core strategy, governance and leadership models, originally written for the ACCA SBL exam and useful for any manager. It gives you the tools to analyse cases like these yourself: strategic analysis and choice (chapters 2 and 4), stakeholders (chapter 7), leadership (chapter 8) and managing change (chapter 19). Read the first three chapters free.

Bottom line

Real strategic leadership examples show the same sequence: see the change, make a hard choice, align people behind it and keep learning. Nadella changed culture alongside strategy, Ørsted turned a simple vision into a decade-long transformation, and Jobs, Barra and Knudstorp proved that stopping things is often the most strategic move. Pick the case closest to your own situation and ask what the equivalent decision would be for you.

FAQs

Sources

• Schoemaker, Krupp and Howland (2013), Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills, Harvard Business Review
• Fortune (2014), Microsoft names Satya Nadella CEO
• Business Insider, How Satya Nadella used a growth mindset to overhaul Microsoft's culture
• BCG (2010), Indra K. Nooyi on Performance with Purpose
• The Grocer, Indra Nooyi: 12 key moments of her time as PepsiCo CEO
• NBC News, How Ford got back on the fast track to success
• McKinsey (2020), Ørsted's renewable-energy transformation
• CNBC (2017), Dong Energy changes name to Ørsted
• Macworld, Steve Jobs's seven key decisions
• Knowledge at Wharton, Lou Gerstner's turnaround tales at IBM
• Roland Berger, Restacking the rules of innovation (LEGO)
• The Grocer, Dave Lewis departs: his milestones as Tesco CEO
• Quartz, Netflix launched streaming video 10 years ago
• Paul Polman (overview and references)
• FoodIngredientsFirst (2010), Unilever unveils plan to decouple business growth from environmental impact
• 3BL Media (2017), Mary Barra outlines GM's road map
• Fox Business (2017), GM completes Opel sale
• NBC News (2008), Starbucks to close all U.S. stores for training