Leadership Role In Competitive Strategy

The wrong hire will cost you more than an empty seat. I've built teams across 3 continents, and here's your playbook: Most leaders rush hiring because they fear the empty seat. That fear costs more than taking your time. Here's your battle-tested hiring playbook: 1/ Define success, not just responsibilities. ↳ Write job descriptions that attract A-players. ↳ Be crystal clear about outcomes, not just tasks. 2/ Resist desperation hiring. ↳ An empty seat hurts for a quarter. ↳ A bad hire hurts for years. 3/ Make interviews count. ↳ Don't just check boxes. ↳ Create scenarios that reveal thinking patterns. 4/ Test for execution, not theory. ↳ Give real problems to solve. ↳ Watch HOW they work, not just what they deliver. 5/ Pressure test their adaptability. ↳ Throw curveballs in the process. ↳ See how they handle uncertainty. 6/ Trust your team's gut. ↳ They'll work with this person daily. ↳ Their instincts are your early warning system. 7/ Measure cultural contribution. ↳ Culture fit is good, culture add is better. ↳ Look for values alignment, not just personality match. 8/ Investigate patterns. ↳ Reference checks reveal behavior patterns. ↳ Past performance predicts future results. 9/ Set expectations in HD. ↳ Be brutally honest about challenges. ↳ Clear expectations prevent future friction. 10/ Play the long game. ↳ A-players compound value. ↳ B-players drain resources. Remember: Every hire shapes your culture. Every culture shapes your future. Make it count.

Jim Farley didn’t panic. He built urgency without chaos. That’s why Ford beat the clock on EVs. In 2020, Farley took over a Ford that was years behind Tesla... Deadlines loomed. Pressure was mounting. But instead of demanding all-nighters and pushing heroics, Farley made a counterintuitive move: He gave teams six-week decision windows. If an experiment failed in week 3, they pivoted in week 4, not in the next quarter. He publicly celebrated a team that killed its own initiative after the data didn’t hold up. The message? “We’re not chasing perfection. We’re chasing fast learning.” During critical sprints, Farley held daily standups; not to pressure, but to unblock. Because urgency doesn’t mean chaos. It means removing drag. It means more communication, not silence. It means more clarity, not more fear. And it worked: - The Mustang Mach-E shipped in under 3 years - Smart risks replaced politics - Teams stayed engaged without burning out Urgency sharpens focus. Panic narrows it. If your team is spiraling under pressure, ask yourself: - Are we building urgency or just spreading fear? - Are we removing blockers or just piling on noise? - Are we pushing clarity or defaulting to chaos? Want more leadership insights? • Join the 11,000+ leaders who get our weekly email newsletter: https://lnkd.in/en9vxeNk • Become part of our leadership community at https://lnkd.in/etZGVhtE • Follow for daily insights on leading high-performing teams • Share with leaders in your network

Tariffs, Transitions, and Tough Decisions: Is Your Supply Chain Ready for 2025? The new year is off to a disruptive start. Political shifts are shaking up North America’s supply chains. With the U.S. eyeing a return to tariff-driven trade strategies and Canada facing uncertainty after Trudeau’s resignation, businesses must prepare for increased volatility. Here’s what’s happening: 👉 Trade Policies in Flux The USMCA could face renegotiations under a Trump administration, potentially stalling investments and impeding cross-border trade. Meanwhile, Canada’s future trade approach remains unclear, with leadership changes likely to impact key agreements and climate policies affecting logistics. 👉 Tariffs Making a Comeback Steel, aluminum, and automotive parts may see renewed duties, driving up costs. Canada could respond with retaliatory measures, adding to the uncertainty and increasing supply chain expenses. 👉 Shifting Trade Patterns Heightened political tensions might push businesses to diversify sourcing outside North America, while potential border delays could disrupt just-in-time delivery models. What Supply Chain Leaders Can Do: ✅ Diversify Your Supply Chain Shift away from single-source suppliers and explore regions like Southeast Asia or Europe to mitigate risks. ✅ Prepare for Nearshoring Consider regional hubs closer to your customers, such as Central America or alternative Canadian locations, to reduce cross-border dependency. ✅ Automate Compliance Use AI and automation tools to stay ahead of changing tariffs and customs rules, ensuring smooth operations. ✅ Build Resilience with 3PLs Collaborate with logistics providers for flexible warehousing, alternative routes, and advanced analytics to navigate uncertainties. ✅ Manage Volatility Set aside contingency funds for unexpected tariff spikes and hedge currency risks to protect profit margins. The Bottom Line: 2025 demands proactive leadership. By diversifying suppliers, leveraging technology, and staying ahead of political shifts, you can turn disruptions into opportunities. What’s your game plan? Share your strategies—or your biggest concerns—in the comments. Let’s crowdsource solutions for the challenges ahead. #SupplyChain #TradePolicy #Leadership #Logistics #Resilience

The Telecom CEO’s Dilemma: Can Pakistan’s market share obsession ever be profitable? Every telecom CEO in Pakistan knows this feeling — the pressure to show growth at any cost. Market share becomes the north star, the headline number, the badge of success. Growth doesn’t always mean value. Pakistan’s telecom sector is living proof. Living with Cognitive Dissonance Every CEO faces the same internal conflict — chase market share to please the board, or protect profitability to secure the company’s future? It’s not an easy choice. 
ARPU remains around USD 1.00, spectrum renewals are priced in USD, while revenues come in PKR — a structural mismatch that kills profit. Add over 30% taxation on telecom services and escalating operational costs, and you have an industry that’s under financial strain. Still, the pressure to grow never fades. Zong CMPak Ltd has expanded aggressively to protect itself, while Telenor, once the pioneer of rural connectivity, has faced tough calls about long-term viability. Ufone 4G, after years of decline, is reinventing itself through renewed focus and collaboration under PTCL Group and its merger. This is what cognitive dissonance looks like in real time — CEOs trying to grow a business in a market that punishes both caution and ambition. Can market share and profitability coexist? I believe they can — but not under the old rules. The telcos that survive the next decade will be those that evolve from connectivity providers to digital ecosystem enablers. We’ve seen this globally. Jio turned affordable data into a digital empire and Safaricom turned M Pesa into a a national growth driver. Both prove that scale and profitability can coexist — when innovation turns users into value creators. In Pakistan, we’re beginning to see similar shifts. JazzCash and easypaisa digital bank have transformed millions of lives and created entirely new revenue streams. Ufone 4G renewed enterprise and cloud focus, and Zong CMPak Ltd expansion into IoT and digital partnerships, show that telcos are experimenting beyond voice and data. Good signs. The Path Forward To end this long-standing tension, Pakistan’s telecom leaders — and policymakers — need to reset the success narrative: 1. Redefine success: Move from counting SIMs to measuring engagement, retention, and digital value. 2. Price for sustainability: The “cheapest data” race only destroys long-term health. 3. Advocate for rational policy: Spectrum pricing and taxation must reflect local-currency realities. 4. Invest in ecosystems: Partnerships across fintech, content, and enterprise tech will define future growth. 5. Reward loyalty: Retention is where profitability lives. Pakistan’s telecom sector has connected over 190 million people — a feat worth celebrating. But the next chapter must be about value. Because the real mark of leadership isn’t how many people you connect — it’s how profitably, sustainably, and meaningfully you keep them connected.

The Global Risks Report 2025 delivers a critical view of the challenges shaping our world—and the role business leaders must play in addressing them. From compounding environmental risks to geopolitical instability, the findings underline a stark reality: we are navigating an era of increasing complexity and interconnected risks. For leaders in sustainability and supply chain, the report offers key insights that demand immediate action: 1. Environmental Risks Are Escalating Extreme weather events and critical changes to Earth systems remain top risks in both short and long-term outlooks. Biodiversity loss and resource scarcity are intensifying pressures across global supply chains. ☑️ Actionable Insight: Leaders must embed resilience into supply chains by adopting decarbonization strategies, leveraging advanced monitoring technologies, and driving supplier collaboration on sustainability goals. PS: nature is a stakeholder too. 2. Fragile and Fragmented Supply Chains Disruptions to systemically important supply chains are an emerging risk, driven by geopolitical tensions and resource concentration. As global interdependencies grow, so too does the need for proactive risk management. ☑️ Actionable Insight: Strengthen supply chain visibility with advanced analytics and digital twin technology. Diversify supplier networks to mitigate resource dependencies and enhance resilience. 3. Misinformation as a Systemic Risk Misinformation and disinformation, fueled by advancements in generative AI, rank as a top risk over the next decade. These issues increasingly intersect with supply chains, undermining trust and transparency. ☑️ Actionable Insight: Invest in secure, robust traceability and blockchain solutions to ensure the integrity of supply chain data. Transparency including lineage and chain of custody will remain a competitive differentiator. Verification-as-a-Service is a key capability my teams are focusing on. 4. Tackling Societal Polarization and Inequality Societal fractures, including inequality and polarization, are both drivers and outcomes of global risks. For businesses, these issues manifest as operational and reputational vulnerabilities within supply chains. ☑️ Actionable Insight: Embed equity metrics into ESG frameworks and design supply chains that prioritize fair labor practices, inclusivity, and shared value creation. The Global Risks Report 2025 makes one thing clear: mitigating these risks requires collaboration, innovation, and decisive leadership. Sustainability and supply chain leaders are uniquely positioned to turn these challenges into opportunities for lasting impact. What risks or opportunities are you prioritizing in 2025? How can we can collectively build resilience and drive meaningful change. ___________ 👍🏽 Like this? ♻️ Repost ✅ Follow me Sheri R. Hinish 🔔 Click my name → Hit the bell → See my posts #Sustainability #SupplyChain #Leadership

TELCOS will not win the AI race by selling GPUs;  their success lies in selling trust, locality, and regulated infrastructures. While GPU-as-a-Service may seem appealing, managing scattered edge clusters and lacking a solid software stack make competing with hyperscalers a misguided strategy. Instead, telecom companies should leverage their strengths: sovereign data boundaries, metropolitan power and fiber infrastructure, and strong enterprise relationships.  Key strategies include:  (1) creating sovereign AI clouds where data remains within national borders,  (2) establishing “smart landlord” agreements for reliable margins,  (3) offering bundled solutions that combine 5G, edge computing, and pre-built applications, and  (4) providing specialized edge inference to reduce costs. As a telecom leader planning for 2026, consider whether you will build an AI cloud to compete with hyperscalers or construct the essential infrastructure they need. Which strategy would you defend in the boardroom? #BellLabsConsulting

It is now clear that peak globalization is over and that the upcoming decade will be defined by mercantilist industrial policy on all sides. While we can argue about what tools of industry policy are appropriate for the US and how they should be applied, the bottom line is that we are officially in a new era. Leaders and supply chain execs need to quickly move past “what is happening” and “why is this happening” to “what do I need to do about this to ensure the success of my business for the next 25 years.” These are some of the best practices we are seeing:  • Wait and see is the wrong strategy. Speed to relationship with new suppliers is critical, especially in categories where there is limited domestic capacity.  • Lean in to relationships with your current US suppliers, they are getting more inbound demand and you need to stay a priority. • Dual source or align secondary sources of supply on as many components as possible. Single-source is too big of a risk, even for your US suppliers. • Weigh production ramp lead times vs. total cost of ownership with overseas purchases to prioritize the highest-impact work transfers. • Look at your team and processes to ensure you have the ability to get quotes from multiple suppliers quickly. Agility will be key as tariff rates continue to shift. Don’t miss the moment, market share will be won and lost in the next 3-6 months. Read our full perspective here: https://lnkd.in/gJHXYFcF

Ford’s Tesla Teardown Triggers a Radical Overhaul of Its EV Strategy Introduction: A Humbling Discovery That Forced a Pivot Ford CEO Jim Farley revealed that dismantling a Tesla Model 3 exposed major inefficiencies in Ford’s EV designs, triggering structural reforms inside the century-old automaker and reshaping its approach to cost, engineering, and transparency. Key Findings From the Tesla Comparison Shocking Engineering Gaps • Ford’s Mustang Mach-E had wiring nearly a mile longer and 70 pounds heavier than Tesla’s Model 3. • That excess weight added roughly $200 per battery pack—an untenable cost in EV economics. • Farley concluded that spending more on lighter wiring could dramatically reduce battery costs, flipping Ford’s traditional engineering logic. Corporate Restructuring Driven by the Revelation • In 2022, Ford split into three divisions: – Ford Model E for EVs – Ford Pro for commercial vehicles – Ford Blue for internal combustion vehicles • The move exposed Model E’s losses—around $5 billion per year—forcing investor scrutiny and internal accountability. • Farley described the decision as a deliberate strategy to confront hard problems “in public” to accelerate solutions. Ford’s Response to Competitive and Policy Pressures • The teardown helped inspire a secret team tasked with developing a new, highly efficient EV platform to compete with Chinese manufacturers. • Ford invested $2 billion in a redesigned Louisville assembly plant and unveiled the new platform, calling it the company’s most radical shift since the Model T. • The first vehicle on the platform arrives in 2027. • The EV market is entering uncertainty after the Trump administration eliminated consumer EV tax credits in September, adding pressure on cost efficiency and design innovation. Why This Matters Ford’s moment of humility illustrates how rapidly the EV landscape is shifting—and how Tesla’s engineering philosophy continues to shape the industry. The teardown didn’t just change a vehicle; it changed Ford’s organizational structure, investment strategy, and approach to innovation. With global competition intensifying and policy incentives evaporating, automakers that adapt aggressively will define the next era of electrification. I share daily insights with 33,000+ followers across defense, tech, and policy. If this topic resonates, I invite you to connect and continue the conversation. Keith King https://lnkd.in/gHPvUttw

“We’re also adjusting our capital, switching more focus onto smaller EV products,” Farley told analysts on a conference call. He said Ford “made a bet in silence two years ago” to develop a team to create a low-cost EV platform. Love to see this from Ford, publicly acknowledging it simply cannot compete in #EVs long term while depending solely on oversized trucks and SUVs, and that it needs to develop competitive compact products to profitably scale its EV business. This is a marathon, not a sprint. ------------------------------- Some thoughts: 1. Even if compact EVs are lower-margin products, they can add #manufacturing scale upstream in the #battery and powertrain #supplychains. The sort of scale absolutely necessary to be competitive through lower-cost and higher-quality sourcing. 2. Their suppliers also need manufacturing scale (and offtake certainty) to support commercial viability and access to affordable financing. It's especially challenging for smaller legacy suppliers who are facing pressure to overhaul existing lines amidst medium-term volume uncertainty, without the balance sheet support and credit history of their OEM offtakers. 3. I think the bet on the EV-home nexus and shift toward deeper lifestyle integration is a good one, and therefore customer acquisition offers more value beyond vehicle sale margins. Same with "software-defined vehicles" and subscription packages. More Ford EV drivers means higher margins on software products, more ecosystem development (home, retail, leisure), and potentially longer-term customer lock-in effects. US automakers abandoned cars for oversized trucks and SUVs, and left themselves massively vulnerable to both domestic upstarts and foreign competition. For Detroit's (and America's) long-term competitiveness, they'll need to embrace a more diversified EV product line to drive manufacturing volume. That means more cars, even if reluctantly. And this development is a step in the right direction. #automotive #transportation #electrification #sustainability https://lnkd.in/eJmd5FtD

Very recently, a founder hiring for a few leadership roles asked me: ‘When you’re hiring leaders, what do you actually screen for? After scaling GoKwik 7× in headcount (and earlier, running the first-layer leadership build at upGrad), I’ve learned that pedigree comes second. These three filters come first: 1. Context-switching with recall Walk them through two projects. For example, our audit and a referral-engine revamp. Ten minutes later, refer back to the audit and ask them to name the single risk we needed to close first. If a candidate loses earlier details once the conversation pivots, they’ll lose them in real work too. 2. High-leverage focus I usually watch how someone prioritizes a roadmap. Every org has chaos. What matters is whether you can zoom out, spot the high-leverage items, and not get dragged into every urgent ping. 3. Empathy under pressure Most of us think empathy is a soft skill, it’s NOT. It’s an execution skill. You can be sharp and decisive but if people don’t feel safe around you, they won’t bring their best. Especially not when things go sideways (which they will). That’s it. If you’re scouting leadership for a company that’s growing fast, start with these filters. They’ve saved me more time and rehiring cycles than any competency map ever could. #Leadershiphiring #TalentAcquisition #StartupGrowth #LeadershipSkills #EmpathyAtWork