In the past, I’ve questioned my skills in strategic thinking when it comes to leading a company. In fact, something I’ve repeated to many people until I believed it myself is: my superpower is the COO role. I don’t care what area it is—engineering, marketing, product, sales—I know I can learn it and carry it forward. The problem is that executing for the sake of executing doesn’t necessarily lead you down the right path. But then, how do you choose the right path as a CEO?
I’ve been reflecting on this since last week, especially as we’ve recently heard from entrepreneurs in our Scale program who also question whether they have the right CEO skills.
First, if you’ve ever had this thought, congratulations. In my experience, this healthy skepticism—wondering how you can improve—naturally pushes you to become a better CEO.
My conclusion is that it’s not really insecurity. It’s more about realizing there isn’t a single “correct” way to run a company, and there will always be things you don’t know you don’t know. So, when you read about how more experienced founders lead their companies, you start to ask: What am I not doing that I maybe should?
That’s why I want to share my thoughts on strategic thinking. I’ll add the disclaimer: I’m also on this continuous improvement journey, and a year from now I’d likely add more.
The Two Non-Negotiable Traits
There are two characteristics I’ve repeatedly seen in incredible leaders:
- A natural sense of urgency. Every day they push themselves to think about how to improve their company in all aspects. They’re always looking for continuous improvement.
- Hiring. To build a high-performing team, you first need to be someone who constantly seeks improvement yourself. Hiring is the most strategically impactful decision you’ll make as a CEO.
I once read a Reddit critique of Elon Musk that said: “What’s Elon Musk’s merit? He does nothing—he just hires geniuses to do the work for him. He’s useless.” For some, that’s harsh. But the reality is: great CEOs attract excellent talent and retain them through their strong sense of urgency.
Where Is the Company Headed?
This is the less tangible part, but one of the hardest for most people: Where is all this going? Personally, this is why I’ve always said my ideal role is COO—it’s much easier for me to execute a vision given by someone else than to set it myself.
“Visionaries” is the word most often used for people like Steve Jobs. From everything I’ve read and heard, he had an extremely clear idea of what Apple would become with the Macintosh and the iPhone.
As Irving Stone wrote in his biography of Michelangelo: “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” Michelangelo didn’t start carving the marble just for fun—he had already seen what was inside.
So no, I’m not a fan of selling “romantic visions” like find your passion. My conclusion is: if this is your struggle, you probably haven’t yet found an area that creates a natural sense of urgency for you.
For me, it’s not easy to think about scaling certain areas of our program, like mentorship. But when I think only about the community side—creating events and spaces for connections—I feel that urgency naturally. My mind immediately starts thinking about expanding to San Francisco (happening this year), Berlin, Tokyo, Bali, São Paulo.
Why not? I see it as possible and I know the steps—it’s just a matter of time.
Prioritization and Obsession
Prioritization becomes much easier when you’re clear on where you want to go. And here’s where natural urgency plays a key role.
Take Elon Musk: his vision to reach Mars has been crystal clear for over 20 years. Everything he’s done has been reverse engineering that goal. Build rockets, test, launch successfully, repeat. That natural urgency makes you obsess over what you should prioritize.
And beyond the “hippie stuff,” there are practical things you can apply today:
- Time boxing. Put everything on your calendar, especially the tasks that absolutely must get done daily. Alexander shared a video on this that sparked some debate—but it works.
- Focus on bottlenecks. Every week your company faces challenges. The CEO’s role is to tackle the biggest bottleneck, not get involved in everything.
- Root cause obsession. Don’t just cover up problems—find the real cause. The best mentors I’ve had are the ones who immediately call out nonsense and force me to face the truth.
As the saying goes: In God we trust. Everyone else bring data. You don’t need thousands of KPIs or OKRs. More than five metrics is excessive. Obsess over those few, identify bottlenecks, and always seek the truth of the challenge.
My summary: Strategic thinking is nothing more than, given the company’s vision and goals, obsessing daily over the most important bottleneck, uncovering its root cause, solving it, and repeating the cycle again and again.