The Leadership Advantage of Strategic Breadth and Curiosity
- Tamar Balkin
- Jun 4
- 3 min read
Take that night train to Memphis
Take that night train to Memphis
And when you arrive at the station
I'll be right there to meet you
I'll be right there to greet you
So don't turn down my invitation"
Night Train to Memphis by Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys (Click here for the song)
One of the most rewarding aspects of my work is the diversity of people, roles, industries, and ideas. Every coaching conversation brings a new lens through which to view leadership, business, and the broader world of work.
With the rapid advancement of technological innovation, industrial integration, and the digital economy, we are witnessing a surge in industrial diversification, often marked by “cross-border” business ventures. Among the most complex and consequential decisions faced by organisational leaders are whether to pursue diversification and, if so, to what extent. In recent years, the literature on industrial diversification has increasingly highlighted the critical role of leaders’ perceptions and mental models in shaping these strategic decisions.
Should leaders gain exposure to different professions, industries, and perspectives?
Researchers have consistently found that stepping into unfamiliar environments sharpens creative thinking. For individuals and leadership teams alike, curiosity across disciplines and industries deepens understanding of how economic shifts and market changes affect both people and organisations. In today’s evolving landscape, success increasingly depends on cross-sector insight, strategic agility, and a mindset of continuous learning.
This kind of broad, strategic curiosity is vital—not just for personal development but for organisational effectiveness. In leadership, it is reflected in what researchers call strategic attentional breadth—the extent to which leadership teams scan widely and deeply across the external environment for relevant trends, signals, and opportunities.
Leadership teams with high attentional breadth are better equipped to:
Identify emerging needs and spot growth opportunities by accessing a diverse range of perspectives and information.
Engage in sense-making and sense-giving, interpreting how external dynamics relate to internal capabilities, shaping strategies, evaluating implementation paths, and anticipating potential challenges.
Make more informed diversification decisions, based on a rich understanding of market, stakeholder, and regulatory dynamics.
When leadership teams consider a wide range of external inputs—including stakeholder expectations, policy changes, and competitive shifts—they’re better positioned to act decisively and creatively. They can spot hidden risks, uncover untapped opportunities, access critical resources, and align their actions with broader trends.
In contrast, narrow attentional breadth can limit a team’s exposure to fresh ideas, resulting in over-reliance on familiar patterns and constrained innovation. Teams may miss early signals of change, reducing their responsiveness and strategic flexibility.
Importantly, while broad scanning is beneficial, researchers warn that internal divisions—known as leadership team fault-lines—can reduce attentional breadth. These divisions may fragment how information is interpreted or prioritised, ultimately weakening a team’s ability to think expansively and act cohesively.
Regular readers will recognise the recurring theme: individuals, organisations, and leadership teams thrive when they step outside their comfort zones. Curiosity, cross-boundary thinking, and openness to new information are core drivers of strategic insight and long-term success.
Over the past 17 years, I have had the privilege of enhancing the leadership capability and well-being of CEOs, senior executives, and middle managers through leadership coaching. My clients span a wide range of sectors, including major banks, all levels of government (local, state, and federal), information technology, tobacco, professional services, retail, healthcare, construction, financial services, financial planning, merchant banking, insurance, legal, energy, higher education, communications, allied health, recruitment, manufacturing, hospitality, superannuation, and transport.
In addition to my commercial work, I regularly provide pro bono coaching to CEO's in the not-for-profit sector.
Over the next few months, I’m leaning into that diversity in a new way. I’ve set myself a challenge: to attend a wider range of in-person events across different sectors, professions, and topics.
Next Event? Please Count Me In
If you're attending a professional event—whether it’s a conference, workshop, seminar, or networking session—I’d be excited to join you. It’s always more engaging to attend with someone else. Most importantly, it gives me a chance to step into your world—to better understand your challenges, your insights, and your perspective. In return, I’ll be extending invitations to the events I’m attending as well. The goal is simple: mutual learning and fresh thinking.
Please click here if you would like to read my past blogs.
References:
Chen, W., Chen, C. and Xiong, X. (2023). Top management team faultlines and corporate industrial diversification: The mediating role of strategic attentional breadth. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1102192.
Jara-Figueroa, C., Jun, B., Glaeser, E.L. and Hidalgo, C.A. (2018). The role of industry-specific, occupation-specific, and location-specific knowledge in the growth and survival of new firms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, [online] 115(50), pp.12646–12653. doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1800475115.
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