Why Great Leaders Focus on the Details: CEO decision-making beyond strategy

Harvard Business Review IdeaCast podcast (Dec 16, 2025) "Why Great Leaders Focus on the Details" features Scott Cook, cofounder and former CEO of Intuit, in conversation about hands-on leadership. Senior executives are often told to focus on big-picture strategy and delegate execution specifics, but Cook argues smart leaders also spend time on the details of how the organisation gets work done at every level — including the front lines. Working with Harvard Business School professor Nitin Nohria, Cook studied companies from Toyota to Amazon to understand why hands-on leadership from the CEO down works, and how to practise it without micromanaging. The pair co-author the related HBR article "The Surprising Success of Hands-On Leaders." Useful counterweight for SEA mid-market boards over-coaching their CEOs to delegate.