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APA Writing Exercise

When tasked with defining strategic leadership it became clear just how difficult it is to come

to a singular definition. An attempt was made within the given parameters to research definitions

across a broad-spectrum lending justification to the exercise. Education, business and military

domains were researched through data mining specific database resources found in the Jerry

Falwell Library (JFL). (Coban et al., 2019) loosely defined strategic leadership and found that

employees in an organizations want to have a vision which identifies which direction they should

work towards and that it is the strategical leader who will provide this direction to its employees.

(Sinniah et al., 2018) defined strategic leadership as the ability of a business’s decision-maker to

manage the future, align individuals with that vision and inspire them to succeed despite

obstacles. (Metz, 2020) in researching strategic leadership found that leaders must create and

sustain effective, ethical organizational cultures and they must think horizontally, integrating

diverse activities and organizations and vertically planning for the long-term future considering

second and third-order effects while addressing near-term issues and challenges.

Productivity as the main objective of strategic leadership was a consistent theme carried out

in the three references. Culture as defined as an evolving set of collective beliefs, values and

attitudes was another identified consistent similarity presented in the articles. (Sinniah et al.,

2018) take culture a bit further by distinguishing between Western and Eastern cultures when

defining strategic leadership. Lastly as a point of similarity between the definitions was the ever-

present necessity that strategic leadership requires leaders and followers.

The first difference which was of interest was the absent discussion in The Future of Strategic

Leadership of leaders creating a vision as a part of strategic leadership. (Metz, 2020) provided a

discussion on the components and enduring nature of strategic leadership and the necessity of a

strategic leader to make decisions by shaping a process. (Coban et al., 2019) in contrast discusses
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empowering members of a group with a shared vision. (Sinniah et al., 2018) in their definition

identify aligning individuals with a vision. (Metz, 2020) states that exercising strategic

leadership may no longer be adequate in contrast to the other two articles. (Metz, 2020)

continues to point out that U.S. military’s method for identifying, developing, and empowering

strategic leaders at the leader level has not adjusted to the changes in the strategic, political

environment where a top-down approach dominates. (Sinniah et al., 2018) much in the same

manner as (Coban et al., 2019), focuses on empowering at the bottom with a shared vision

Drawing from the previous definitions I offer the following definition of strategic leadership.

Strategic Leadership is the development of a vision, aligning individuals with that vision to bring

about a desired outcome while inspiring individuals to succeed despite obstacles and outside

influences. There are three key elements to the definition which are vision, alignment and

execution. Vision in context of the definition is the development of new possibilities. Alignment

is building an orientation so everyone is moving in the same direction and Execution is

advocating execution so the vision can become a reality. Having a vision is the beginning, but

that vision cannot become a reality without alignment and execution. That vision must be shared

across all levels of leadership. It cannot simply come from the top down. Gaining and maintain

alignment requires effective communication horizontally and vertically. Effective leaders must

ensure that the strategies and people are empowered and in place for the vison to be come a

reality through execution.

Not everyone has the same leadership style, natural tendencies or the same strengths and

weaknesses. Regardless of individual differences, cultural and ethnic make-up, everyone can

lead to best practices, mastering this ability is the key to any organization’s strategic leadership.

When a leader learns this ability, that is where the vision, alignment and execution necessary for
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strategic leadership successfulness of implementation becomes possible. Strategic leadership

starts with improving your understanding of yourself. Everyone can move towards best practices

through identification, recognition, commitment and hard work.

Planning is essential for fire departments to make the best use of limited resources available.

Strategic planning in the fire service must consider both internal and external forces that may

impact an organization and its ability to provide effective and safe services and requires strategic

leadership to effectuate this end. Strategic planning developed from strategic leadership helps

make the best use of these limited resources in order to meet the demands and challenges of the

present and the future. Resources encompasses manpower and equipment and challenges

represent the internal and external powers acting upon those resources. Applying strategic

leadership in the fire service involves the 5-step process of developing a strategic plan at the

forefront. Step 1: Write a vision statement aligning individuals with that vision. Step 2: Write a

mission statement. Step 3: Perform a GAP analysis. Step 4: Write specific, measurable,

achievable, relevant and time bound (SMART) goals and Step 5: Monitor outcomes while

inspiring individuals to succeed despite obstacles and outside influences.

References
Coban, O., Ozdemir, S., & Pisapia, J. (2019). Top Managers’ Organizational Change
Management Capacity and Their Strategic Leadership Levels at Ministry of National Education
(MoNE). Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 81, 129–146.
Metz, S. (2020). The Future of Strategic Leadership. Parameters: U.S. Army War College, 50(2),
61–67.
Sinniah, S., Mohamed Makhbul, Z., Perumal, G., & Haji Mohamed, R. K. M. (2018). Career
Motivation among Lecturers’ Working at Private Universities in Malaysia. International Journal
of Business & Management Science, 8(2), 241–254. https://search-ebscohost-
com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=138553070&site=ehost-
live&scope=site
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Annotated Bibliography

Coban, O., Ozdemir, S., & Pisapia, J. (2019). Top Managers’ Organizational Change
Management Capacity and Their Strategic Leadership Levels at Ministry of National
Education (MoNE). Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 81, 129–146.
The article is produced from a Doctoral dissertation presented at the Eurasian Journal of

Education Research Conference in May of 2018 in Antalya, Turkey and is a product of

work developed by Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University and Başkent University in

Turkey and the Florida Atlantic University in the United States. The article studies the

relationship between strategic leadership levels of top managers at the Ministry of

National Education (MoNE). Discussion over the lack of strategic leadership of the

senior MoNE management during an organizational change management are prominent

throughout drawing conclusions that a relationship exists between an increase in strategic

leadership by senior management lending itself naturally to the skills of managing

organizational change will increase. The Eurasian Journal of Educational Research

(EJER) is a peer-reviewed, an international and interdisciplinary journal. The EJER has

an established history of publishing original research articles and significant contributions

on education and educational sciences. EJER publishes research employing a variety of

qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research and approaches in all areas of

education from early childhood through higher education. EJER is dedicated to the

contribution of improving educational processes and outcomes. The article was chosen

for this assignment to gain an international interpretation and understanding when

defining strategic leadership. The authors’ article in full PDF format was found by data

mining the ERIC (EBSCO) database in the Jerry Falwell Library (JFL).
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Metz, S. (2020). The Future of Strategic Leadership. Parameters: U.S. Army War College, 50(2),
61–67.
Dr. Steven Metz, a senior research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army

War College and nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

discusses in his article influences which will expand and accelerate changes to the

character of strategic leadership. Metz provides insights into the evitability of military

leaders embracing a model based on entrepreneurship surpassing the twentieth-century

industrial style leadership model effectuated by outside factors. The article opens with

Carl von Clausewitz, a familiar resource to U.S. Army officers where the author draws

and discusses a correlation between war and strategic leadership having an enduring

nature and changing character. Each year the U.S. Army War College publishes

numerous studies, reports, articles and book-length volumes on a wide variety of issues

central to the U.S. national Security. Works published are solely the ideas of the authors

and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Army or U.S Army War

College. Approaching the exercise discussing a term such as strategic leadership which

not everyone may understand required a past, current and future definition to draw

comparison of similarities and differences when defining Strategic Leadership. This

article is an attempt at the future definition. The author’s article in full PDF format was

found by data mining the International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center

database in the Jerry Falwell Library (JFL).

Sinniah, S., Mohamed Makhbul, Z., Perumal, G., & Haji Mohamed, R. K. M. (2018). Career
Motivation among Lecturers’ Working at Private Universities in Malaysia. International
Journal of Business & Management Science, 8(2), 241–254. https://search-ebscohost-
com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=138553070&site=ehost-
live&scope=site
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The research presented in the article was aimed at examining the influence of the work

environment, strategic leadership, supportive culture and rewards on career motivation of

academicians. The research discusses at some length the relationship between supervisors

and subordinates and the correlation to strategic leadership and whether it is of any

consequential significance as compared to rewards by future potential employees. The

research provides a definition on strategic leadership and is used as a variable in a

structural equation modeling (SEM) and partial least squares (PLS 3.0) study. The study

used 29 measurement items for 5 components all of which were adopted from past

strategic leadership. The research concludes the working environment influences career

motivation among employees in private universities in Malaysia. The International

Journal of Business and Management Science (IJBMS) is a peer-reviewed semiannual

journal. The journal publishes articles that expand knowledge on business and

management issues. The authors represent the Faculty of Business, SEGi University,

Faculty of Economics and Management, University Kebangsan, and Faculty of Business

and Finance, University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia. The uniqueness of using

mathematical models, computer algorithms, and statistical method that formed partial

least squares path modeling (cause-effect relationships) allured me to inclusion in this

assignment. It had not occurred that mathematics could be used to define strategic

leadership or the attributes and its characteristics. The authors’ article in full PDF format

was found by data mining the Business Source Complete database in the Jerry Falwell

Library (JFL).