Strategy takes a fifth of the week. The Priority Plan makes the rest count.

Without a clear, written set of priorities, the most urgent request in the room quietly becomes the strategy.

Bill Dickinson, D.Min., RCC Oct 5, 2026 · 4 min read

Strategy takes a fifth of the week. The Priority Plan makes the rest count.

When Michael Porter and Nitin Nohria of Harvard Business School tracked how 27 chief executives spent nearly 60,000 hours, strategy itself took only 21 percent of their working time.

I don’t read that as neglect. I read it as proof that strategy lives or dies in everything around it: the reviews that keep it honest, the people who carry it, and the culture that makes it normal.

21%of CEO working time went to strategy itself

43%went to advancing their own agenda

36%went to reacting to whatever was unfolding

Source: Porter and Nohria, Harvard Business School. 27 CEOs, nearly 60,000 hours.

That last number is the one I watch with every leadership team I work with. Without a clear, written set of priorities, the most urgent request in the room quietly becomes the strategy. Then the priorities are derailed, and growth is negligible.

Where the hours go, and what the plan builds

Where CEO time wentWhat the plan builds

21%Strategy

The choices themselves: three priorities and six SMART goals, formally adopted so the direction is settled rather than reopened in every meeting.

25%Business unit reviews

A steady review rhythm. Every goal reports green, yellow, or red, along with its risks and the decisions it needs. Silence counts as yellow.

25%People and relationships

One named owner for every SMART goal, priority teams who give the plan real hours each week, and coaching for the people who carry it.

16%Organization and culture

The why, what, and how, told often enough that a front-line team member can explain the priorities in their own words. A demonstration of enterprise leadership.

Three priorities, two SMART goals each

I hold teams to only three priorities because focus is the whole point. Each priority names a place where the organization must be meaningfully different 18 to 30 months from now, and each carries exactly two SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. That gives the enterprise six goals it can remember and even play back.

Every goal has one owner and at least two milestone deliverables each quarter, and a missed milestone comes back with a recovery plan rather than an explanation.

Once the priorities and goals are adopted they stay fixed, while the activities underneath them stay open.

That openness matters. It lets leaders further into the organization bring their own ideas for moving the plan forward.

Pacing the plan over 18 to 30 months

First quarterBuild and adoptBuild the plan and adopt it formally.

Months 4 to 18Disciplined executionQuarterly milestones and monthly reviews that bring problems to the surface early.

Final stretchLand and renewLand the goals, name what the plan has changed, and decide which priorities to retire, carry forward, or replace as the next plan takes shape.

Your plan on one page

Priority 1

SMART goal 1.1 · Owner

SMART goal 1.2 · Owner

Priority 2

SMART goal 2.1 · Owner

SMART goal 2.2 · Owner

Priority 3

SMART goal 3.1 · Owner

SMART goal 3.2 · Owner

Your quarterly testPorter and Nohria urged CEOs to check their calendars against their agendas every quarter. I ask the same of every leader who owns a Priority Plan: lay the last ninety days of your calendar next to your six SMART goals. If the goals are hard to find in how you spent your hours, you are still holding a slide deck, not a growth engine.

Four things to hold

01Strategy took 21 percent of CEO time. It lives or dies in the reviews, people, and culture around it.

02Hold to three priorities, each with exactly two SMART goals and one named owner per goal.

03Every goal reports green, yellow, or red. Silence counts as yellow.

04Each quarter, lay your last ninety days of calendar next to your six goals.

Bill Dickinson, D.Min., RCC Founder and Managing Partner, C3 Leadership

Thirty-five years spent alongside leaders in hard moments, first as a pastor and now as an executive coach. Author of Optimizing Self, second edition, September 2026.

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