Embracing Commitment and Performance: CEOs and Practices Used to Manage Paradox
Preprint, 2008
We tend to assume that great leaders must make difficult choices between two or more
conflicting outcomes. In an interview study with 26 CEOs of top American and European
companies (incl. IKEA, Campbell Soups, Nokia, H&M), we find that instead of choosing
between conflicting outcomes such as long-term strategy or short-term performance drivers,
top tier managers argue that their role is to embrace such paradoxes to make both things
happen simultaneously. The study identifies five groups of practices that make this possible.
Together, they reveal a systematic approach to managerial work at the top, which is seldom
found in the literature. By building on the engagement of many in the development of the
organization, the practices are important for our understanding of how a CEO facilitates the
partaking of many in strategy making. The paper contributes to theory by relating the current
findings to the literature on the connection between commitment and performance and on the
strategic management literature that focuses on the proliferation of strategy and strategy as
practice.