Rethinking Strategy and Leadership in Diverse Enterprises: Unity in Multiplicity

Strategy is key to any organisation, but even more for modern organisations that incorporate global operations and operate in shifting markets and increasingly diverse workforces. In this case, strategy and vision are never optional adornments; rather, they are existential imperatives. Understandably, though, they are also double-edged, for the very tools of strategic management can both liberate and constrain, unify and exclude, accelerate and stagnate.

In this article, I present a detailed exposition of strategic management and vision in the context of organisational diversity, where I will explore both its propulsive power and its latent risks. But before we dive into the arguments, high-level frameworks, and illustrations on how strategy drives organisational development and growth, while also interrogating where it may falter, let us define some terms.

Tanya Sammut-Bonnici (2015) defines strategy as the process of evaluation, planning, and implementation designed to maintain or improve competitive advantage. Walleck et al (1980) in the Harvard Business Review also described it as a planning framework that cuts across organisational boundaries and facilitates strategic decision-making about customer groups and resources.

As for Strategic management, in its broadest sense, it refers to “the activity within an organisation whose objective is to define, plan, agree, implement and evaluate the organisation’s strategy,” Kittlaus, HB. (2022). It encompasses setting long-term goals, assessing internal and external environments, allocating resources and coordinating implementation.

Strategic activities are often aimed at promoting organisational growth. By growth, I mean an increase in size or capacity of an organisation over time, as well as the internal process of development (capability, structure, culture) accompanying that increase, as also noted by Frawley (2023).

When you integrate these definitions, you arrive at the proposition that strategic management encompasses the mechanism by which organisations pursue planned, purposeful growth (spanning size, scope, and capability) through vision, alignment, and execution.

Why strategy, though?

As we have seen, strategy matters a lot in organisational development and growth, largely for five interrelated reasons as follows:

1. Direction & coherence: Without a strategic compass, organisations drift and different units (in the same organisation) pursue disconnected goals, resource conflicts arise, and as for culture, it gets fragmented. A clear strategy aligns the organisation, structures priorities and sets boundaries for action.
2. Leveraging diversity (if done well): In a diverse organisation, diverse in backgrounds, thinking styles, culture, geography, et cetera, a robust strategy becomes the glue that harnesses these elements into coherent value-creation rather than chaos. It “construes order”.
3. Competitive advantage: Strategy is more than just survival. It is about creating and sustaining advantage. As Zhou & Park (2025) state, “strategic alignment with the firm’s prior strategy determines long-term sustainable and profitable growth.” This cannot be overemphasised.
4. Implementation discipline: Growth is not just envisioned; it must be executed. Strategic management sets out the mechanisms, timelines, metrics, accountability and feedback loops that turn vision into results. Implementation of strategies is key to growth and progress.
5. Navigating complexity and change: Organisations operate in an environment of disruption (technological, regulatory, social) and fluidity. Thus, strategy provides the architecture to anticipate, absorb and reshape change rather than be buffeted by it.

However, it is not always cosy because strategy can also become a liability.

For instance:

• Strategy may ossify and metamorphose into a status quo such that once a strategic path is chosen, over time, some people may begin to harden into “we’ve always done it this way,” and blind the organisation to novel paths and opportunities.
• It can also suppress diversity of thought if the strategy (itself) is very rigid or follows an overly top-down approach. It may impose conformity and stifle the very diversity (of people, ideas, culture) that could be a competitive asset.
• In other cases, the strategy may be misaligned with diversity by assuming a homogeneous workforce or uniform culture. That way, it may fail since many organisations today are heterogeneous across geographies, generations and identities. Empirical research, such as the work of Wagdi and Fathi (2024), shows that top-management team diversity can be a double‐edged sword. On one hand, it can be beneficial when appropriately managed, and on the other, detrimental when unmanaged.
• Growth via strategy may focus on the “how many” (size, revenues) without attending to the “how well” (capability, culture, inclusion). Poorly managed diversity then becomes a drag on performance. As Campbell (2022) noted, diversity in age, beliefs, and leadership expertise is shown to impact performance significantly.

In short, strategy is indispensable but only when chequered with awareness of diversity dynamics and with flexibility built in. Also, there are interlinkages across different aspects within the organisation that should be considered for a strong, robust and all-inclusive strategy.

Strategic thinking in a diverse organisational context

In this context, strategic thinking refers to the mental discipline that precedes formal strategic planning. The capacity to synthesise environments, internal assets, people, culture, possibility and threat (interoperable) into a coherent vision of where the organisation must go.

And since strategic thinking involves the generation and application of unique business insights to opportunities that aim to create a competitive advantage for an organisation, a bi-side consideration (propulsive and cautionary) is necessary.

On the propulsive side, there is a need for strategists who truly value diversity to engage voices from across geographies, generations, functions and cultures to identify emergent opportunities. For example, new markets can be unlocked by multicultural capacity, innovation sparked by varied world views, and resilience built by multiple experience sets.

On the cautionary side, if strategic thinking fails to integrate diversity meaningfully, it can default to one persona, one culture, one mental model and thus result in blind spots.  A strategy conceived in one dominant culture may fail to engage minority teams or global branches and lead to underperformance or even weakening of the organisation.

Thus, strategic thinking in the context of diversity is inherently about tension between unity and plurality. Between standardisation and differentiation. Between global consistency and local tailored execution. Great strategists hold that tension consciously rather than denying it.

Diversity is a historical reality for any organisation, and is more apparent today with increased globalisation. Therefore, strategic inclusion becomes a necessity rather than an option, and when harnessed well, can be a competitive component.

In part 2 of this article next week, we will explore what constitutes great strategies. We will model a strategy, harness insights from some great strategists and explore different perspectives on strategic management in the context of diversity.