Identifying Shahid Sattari’s Strategic Leadership Competencies: Teachings for Public Managers

Objective In today’s complex and dynamic organizational environments, strategic leaders play a pivotal role in shaping strategies, driving transformational initiatives, achieving organizational excellence, and ensuring long-term survival and success. These responsibilities demand a diverse set of competencies that enable leaders to navigate challenges and seize opportunities effectively. Understanding and developing these competencies is crucial for fostering strategic leadership. The present study seeks to identify the strategic leadership competencies (SLC) of Shahid Mansour Sattari, a prominent strategic leader, and to design a comprehensive model based on his demonstrated capabilities and achievements. By exploring Sattari's leadership competencies, this study aims to contribute to the development of strategic leaders and provide actionable insights for organizations. Methods This research adopts an applied, interpretive, and inductive approach within a qualitative framework. The data sources include Shahid Sattari’s recorded and documented memories, published books and articles about him, cinematic portrayals of his life, and the Sattari database. These materials were purposefully selected and analyzed using thematic analysis. To ensure reliability, the two-coder agreement method was employed to evaluate and confirm findings. Additionally, expert opinions were solicited to validate the identified categories, and necessary adjustments were incorporated. This rigorous methodological approach ensures the credibility and applicability of the study's findings. Results The model of Shahid Sattari’s strategic leadership competencies is structured around eight pervasive themes, each encompassing specific traits and capabilities: Belief Competencies: Demonstrated through strong religious affiliation, spiritualism, and deeply held ethical convictions. Moral and Value Competencies: Exemplified by ethical orientation, authenticity, sincerity, honesty, alignment of words and actions, devotion, and valor. Personality Competencies: Traits such as self-esteem, confidence, courage, decisiveness, humility, and perseverance characterize his personality. Intelligent Competencies: Highlighting his intellectual prowess, including military genius, scientific acumen, and artistic talent. Emotional Intelligence: Manifested in his ability to foster individual and interpersonal relationships effectively. Cognitive Competencies: Encompassing creative, systemic, contingency, and strategic thinking, which underpinned his innovative approaches. Knowledge Competencies: Demonstrated through knowledge-oriented practices, technical expertise, and organizational mastery. Behavioral Competencies: Focused on supportive interactions, communication skills, team-building, empowerment, adaptability, challenge orientation, talent management, and fostering a learning culture. These themes collectively capture the multifaceted competencies that Shahid Sattari utilized to achieve innovative and transformational leadership during his tenure in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Air Force. Conclusion The development of strategic leaders capable of addressing today’s organizational complexities requires a holistic understanding of the competencies they must possess. Benchmarking successful leaders provides valuable insights into these requirements. The model presented in this study comprehensively identifies the competencies demonstrated by Shahid Sattari, enabling him to lead with innovation and achieve significant advancements aligned with self-sufficiency and organizational goals. This model not only advances theoretical knowledge about strategic leadership but also offers a practical framework for developing strategic leaders in contemporary organizations. It highlights the importance of belief-based, ethical, personality-oriented, emotional, cognitive, knowledge-based, and behavioral competencies. The simultaneous integration of these diverse competencies distinguishes this study from similar research, providing a nuanced perspective that enhances understanding in the field. The findings can serve as a benchmark for leadership development programs and as a tool to identify and nurture strategic leadership competencies among senior managers, ultimately contributing to organizational success.