By Maggie Corry
I remember taking a Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment in a previous job, having quiet hopes that “strategic” would rank among my top strengths. With aspirations of nonprofit leadership, it felt like the kind of capability that was necessary, and hopefully, should come naturally. And while I understood assessments like Clifton StrengthsFinder offer language for self-understanding rather than definitive identity markers, I was disappointed when strategic thinking didn’t make my top five.
Five years later, I found myself stepping into a Strategy Consultant role with Spectrum Nonprofit Services. The irony wasn’t lost on me. How could I reconcile this apparent gap between the assessment and my career path? Over my three and a half years here, I’ve come to understand that strategic thinking isn’t a fixed trait you either have or don’t. It’s a discipline you develop through repeated exploration of complex problems and the humility to recognize when your initial solutions need revision.
Since joining Spectrum in early 2022, I’ve worked with dozens of clients that run the gamut of organizational challenges. Each engagement revealed something different about what strategy actually looks like when it collides with real organizational dynamics, constrained resources, and competing priorities.
I am incredibly grateful to the nonprofit leaders who have trusted me and Spectrum with the work of partnering with them on their strategy. As I gathered my thoughts about reflecting on my time here, I kept coming back to the idea of partnership, of being a sounding board to leaders who are doing the hard work of moving their missions forward in an increasingly complex world.
What I’ve discovered is that strategy isn’t the polished framework we see in graduate school case studies. It’s messier than that. Strategy is a commitment to intense, often repetitive and candid conversations. It’s about winnowing through all the ideas and finding what is a viable hypothesis, then having the wherewithal to test it and the courage to pivot when the information tells you something different than what you hoped.
Some of my most valuable moments as a consultant happened not in front of a board presenting recommendations, but in the quiet conversations in between. The executive director who called to talk through how to handle an impending public policy change. The development director wrestling with the capacity of the fundraising team. The program manager figuring out how to measure impact when the work is inherently relational and long-term.
These weren’t “strategic planning” moments in any formal sense, but they were deeply strategic. They were about helping leaders pause long enough to think clearly about what matters most, what trade-offs they’re willing to make, and how to align their day-to-day work with bigger picture aspirations.
I’ve learned that good strategy consulting isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about asking better questions. Questions like: “What would have to be true for this to work?” or “What are we solving for here?” These questions only work because they’re asked in relationship with people who trust you enough to think out loud with you.
The work has also taught me humility about the limits of external perspective. As a consultant, I could see patterns across organizations and bring frameworks that helped leaders think differently about their challenges. But I was always an outsider to their specific context, their history, their relationships. The best strategic work happened when that outside perspective combined with deep insider knowledge; when leaders used our conversations as a catalyst for their own clarity, not as a replacement for their own judgment.
Looking back, my original perspective of being strategic was based on a misunderstanding of what strategic thinking actually involves. I thought it meant being the person with the grand vision, the one who could see around corners and predict the future. Instead, I’ve learned it’s more about being comfortable with uncertainty, staying curious about what’s working and what isn’t, and helping others think more clearly about difficult choices.
This kind of strategic thinking isn’t something that would show up on a StrengthsFinder assessment because it’s not a destination, but a discipline. It’s the practice of regularly asking yourself whether what you’re doing is still aligned with what you’re trying to achieve, and being willing to adjust course when the answer is no.
As I transition to my next chapter, I’m taking with me a deeper appreciation for the complexity of leadership and the value of having thought partners who can help you see your own work more clearly. And perhaps more importantly, I’ve learned that the best strategy emerges not from individual brilliance, but from the intersection of different perspectives in service of something bigger.
That’s the kind of strategic leader I want to be, not the one with all the answers, but the one who creates space for the right questions to emerge. I’m incredibly grateful to the organizations I’ve partnered with, the Spectrum team, and Steve Zimmerman for this once-in-a-career opportunity.
Photo by Jordan Madrid on Unsplash