LCP LCP LCP
Skip to content

We are losing our ability to read maps. Thanks to navigation systems, Google maps, Waze and their like, most of us simply have to have a good address for our destination in order to get somewhere, anywhere in the world. We no longer have to puzzle about the best route, nor do we even have a sense of the journey ahead when we set out. We simply listen for the next immediate instruction. In many ways it’s a miracle. It opens our horizons (who knew that little lane would bring me out to this intersection?) and makes us more efficient.

However, we have also lost our ability to practice some of the most basic and most important skills of leadership. Reading a map is a powerful cognitive parallel to the skills required for strategic thinking from leaders. 

Here are the six skills we practice when we use a map and we lose when we listen attentively to the GPS:

Think big picture. The screen size of a navigation system provides detail at the immediate level, but doesn’t show the breadth of a journey particularly well. Holding an old-fashioned paper map puts a journey in scale, and orients you to direction and complexity.

Orient yourself. The direction options on a GPS can confuse North and South, altitude and proximity. Even as you turn a paper map to have it make sense to you, you’re orienting your thinking about where you are and where you are headed.

Read the landscape. How far between milestones? How close to geographic features or points of interest? Are we climbing? Descending? Paralleling something important? The context of where we are right now can get lost amid the immediacy of following short term direction.

Identify interesting and useful excursions. What could make this trip better? What can we see? Do? Capitalize on? The singlemindedness of GPS limits the creativity of a map.

Weigh the options. Yes, there is a trip that is the fastest passage between two points, but is that our only objective? What are we trading off?

Prepare for a challenge. Although a GPS may warn you of traffic (which is useful), it rarely says “steep climb” or “bumpy road” or “massive intersection” ahead. A map gives you clues about the journey to come, so you can prepare and succeed.

Maps of the economic world are notoriously vague. We don’t have clear pictures from a satellite about what the next months, years, or decades will bring. We regularly remind ourselves that all our decision making is about the future and all our data is about the past, but that’s an easy out. With a little attention, we can start to see signposts and features of the “landscape” both ahead and around us. There are competitor dynamics, customer needs, “jobs to be done” (in design parlance), employee engagement, and economic announcements. If leaders reframe their thinking like reading a map, there’s lots to see and many insights to be had.

We love the leverage GPS gives us—efficiency, information, clarity (turn right in 300 feet). Leaders need to take a balanced leadership approach. The most effective leaders build a map, literally or figuratively, to help make sense of the data and detail and direction that analytics (the GPS of leadership) have to offer.

So make a map, keep making it better, and use it. Leaders who rely too heavily on “GPS-triggered” thinking may not end up at their destination.

 

 

Amanda Young Hickman is co-founder of Insight Experience, a Boston-based firm delivering contextually rich, immersive business simulations and experiential learning experiences to accelerate and integrate leadership, business acumen and strategy execution.

Subscribe to Our Blog

Let's Talk

We'd love to hear about your leadership development goals.

Leave Comment

Recent Posts

Insight Experience Named to 2025 Inc. Regionals-featured-image
Insight Experience Named to 2025 Inc. Regionals
Click to view Insight Experience Named to 2025 Inc. Regionals

We’re proud to share that Insight Experience has been named to the 2025 Inc. Regionals: Northeast list,...

Category:-  Featured , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post
Leadership Confidence: Women Deserve Better Than Imposter Syndrome-featured-image
Leadership Confidence: Women Deserve Better Than Imposter Syndrome
Click to view Leadership Confidence: Women Deserve Better Than Imposter Syndrome

Leadership development is about equipping people with the skills, mindset, and confidence to succeed. Yet,...

Category:-  Featured , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post
The Strategic Leader's Guide to AI: Adoption & Governance-featured-image
The Strategic Leader's Guide to AI: Adoption & Governance
Click to view The Strategic Leader's Guide to AI: Adoption & Governance

In the first post of this series, "The Leadership Imperative: AI Literacy & Adoption," we explored Level 1,...

Category:-  Featured , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post
The Leadership Imperative: AI Literacy & Adoption-featured-image
The Leadership Imperative: AI Literacy & Adoption
Click to view The Leadership Imperative: AI Literacy & Adoption

I recently attended a leadership development conference, and every session that mentioned AI was packed—often...

Category:-  Featured , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post
Your Guide to Bringing Strategic Leadership to Life, Part 3-featured-image
Your Guide to Bringing Strategic Leadership to Life, Part 3
Click to view Your Guide to Bringing Strategic Leadership to Life, Part 3

At the close of a successful leadership development program, energy is high. The call to action was clear....

Category:-  Featured , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post
Practical Tips for New Leaders: Working with Senior Leaders-featured-image
Practical Tips for New Leaders: Working with Senior Leaders
Click to view Practical Tips for New Leaders: Working with Senior Leaders

Note: This is the second post in the Practical Tips for New Leaders series. Head here for tips on running...

Category:-  Featured , Developing New Leaders

Learn More Click to view blog post
How Business Simulations Build Leadership Mindsets That Last-featured-image
How Business Simulations Build Leadership Mindsets That Last
Click to view How Business Simulations Build Leadership Mindsets That Last

As we wrap up the first month of 2025, it’s a good time to check in on our leadership mental models. In a...

Category:-  Featured , Business Simulation

Learn More Click to view blog post
5 Signs Your Organization Needs Strategy Execution Training-featured-image
5 Signs Your Organization Needs Strategy Execution Training
Click to view 5 Signs Your Organization Needs Strategy Execution Training

Every organization wants to operate at its peak, but even the best-run companies encounter challenges that...

Category:-  Featured , Executing Strategy

Learn More Click to view blog post
Top 10 Leadership Insights of the Year: Our Most-Read Blog Posts-featured-image
Top 10 Leadership Insights of the Year: Our Most-Read Blog Posts
Click to view Top 10 Leadership Insights of the Year: Our Most-Read Blog Posts

As the year comes to a close, we’re reflecting on the blog posts that captured the most attention and...

Category:-  Featured , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post
Mastering Leadership Presence: Building Trust Through Authenticity-featured-image
Mastering Leadership Presence: Building Trust Through Authenticity
Click to view Mastering Leadership Presence: Building Trust Through Authenticity

Imagine you’re in the audience at an all-hands meeting. Your company has big news: an acquisition, a merger,...

Category:-  Featured , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post