Frame and Reframe: The Leadership Skill of Rethinking

Every marathon starts long before the start line — in how you frame the challenge ahead.

If your framing is wrong, no amount of effort will make the outcome right. Misjudge the terrain, ignore the weather, overestimate your fitness — and you pay for it in the final kilometres. The same principle applies to leadership: the way we define a problem determines the quality of our decisions, and ultimately, our results.

The Stoics knew this. So did Drucker, Porter, and every strategist worth studying. The greatest leverage point in any endeavour lies in how you see the situation, not just how you act within it.

The Power of Framing

In marathon training, I learned that success depends on perspective. Some days the goal was distance; other days it was recovery. When an injury set me back, the goal shifted from running fast to running smart. Each time I reframed what “progress” meant, I was able to keep moving forward.

This mirrors Drucker’s idea that effectiveness is doing the right things, not merely doing things right. We often rush into activity, mistaking motion for momentum. In organisations, that looks like launching initiatives before understanding the real issue — confusing speed with direction.

Porter (1996) called strategy “a choice of what not to do.” Framing is the discipline of making those choices consciously. It’s about stepping back to ask, what business are we really in? Or what problem are we actually solving?

Poor framing wastes energy. Good framing aligns it.

If there is any one “secret” of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time- Peter F. Drucker

The Reframing Loop

Design thinking offers a practical playbook for reframing: empathise, redefine, ideate, test. When I faced recurring IT band issues midyear, I put the mindset into practice.

Instead of blaming my body, I reframed the problem: maybe it wasn’t weakness, but overload; not failure, but feedback. I tested recovery routines, changed shoes, adjusted pace. The issue didn’t disappear overnight — but my mindset shifted from frustration to curiosity.

That shift changed everything. Reframing isn’t about optimism; it’s about ownership. It turns emotion into insight.

Stoicism and Strategic Clarity

That’s reframing in its purest form. When conditions can’t be controlled, the only strategic move left is perspective. The Stoics treated reframing as the first act of discipline — the space between stimulus and response where wisdom lives.

Leaders who master that space create calm amid uncertainty. They question assumptions, test narratives and invite dissent. They know that clarity doesn’t precede action — it emerges from deliberate reflection and reframing.

You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength - Marcus Aurelius

Reframing in Leadership

Often the root cause of strategic misfires stem not from bad execution, but from bad framing and planning.

Teams race to solve what they don’t yet understand. Leaders anchor on familiar narratives — “we’re under-resourced,” “the market has shifted,” “it’s a communications issue” — when the real problem lies deeper.

Effective leaders pause to reframe. They ask:

• What assumptions am I making about this situation?

• What evidence would disprove them?

• If I viewed this through my customer’s eyes, how would it look?

This is the first loop of strategic endurance: pause, reframe and act anew.

Closing Reflection

Framing is to leadership what pacing is to running: if you get it wrong at the start, the whole race suffers.

The leader’s role is not to have all the answers, but to keep asking better questions — to transform obstacles into insights, and setbacks into signals.

Because, as in endurance sport, clarity is rarely given; it’s earned through effort and reflection.