Insights on Strategy, Execution & Complex Organisations
I write about how strategy, execution and organisational design work in real-world environments — the kind that resist simple plans, reward systems thinking, and require leaders to adapt with clarity and purpose. Here you’ll find insights on strategic ambiguity, strategic manoeuvre, organisational viability, decision-making in complexity, and practical leadership thinking.
Browse the latest articles, or explore by topic below.
When Everyone Has a Strategy, No One Does
There is a word that has lost all meaning in organisations. Strategy.
Every function has one now. HR has a people strategy. IT has a technology strategy. Finance has a financial strategy. Marketing has a brand strategy. And somewhere above all of them, there is supposed to be an organisational strategy. Except by the time you have finished counting all the strategies, you have not described a coherent direction at all. You have described a competition for resources.
Strategic Ambiguity: When Clarity Becomes the Enemy of Strategy
The Clarity Trap
“We need more clarity.”
It is the most common refrain in strategy reviews, boardrooms, and leadership off-sites. Clarity of vision. Clarity of priorities. Clarity of execution. In stable, knowable environments, this instinct makes sense. In a world wrapped in what Clausewitz called “the fog of greater or lesser uncertainty,” the relentless pursuit of clarity can become strategic self-harm.
What if the problem is not that we lack clarity, but that we try to impose it where it does not belong?
When Strategy Meets Reality, Identity Is Revealed
Why grand strategy is an earned identity, shaped through interaction with reality
Most organisations behave as if grand strategy can be decided in isolation.
A leadership team steps away. The language is careful. Purpose, ambition, values, north star. The organisation returns with a refreshed sense of who it is and where it is going.
Except it does not.
What usually emerges is not identity, but aspiration. A story leaders would like to tell about themselves, rather than something that has been earned through action.
Start With Reality, Not Why
Many organisations start strategy with an inspiring purpose — and then wonder why execution fails. This piece explains how the gap between narrative and behaviour erodes coherence, damages trust, and weakens strategy at its core.
Mike's presentation delves into the complexities of the modern business landscape, sharing insights and approaches that can help leaders navigate challenges effectively.
In complex and high-stakes environments, stability is an illusion. Reflecting on my experiences as a soldier in Afghanistan, this talk explores the challenges of adapting strategy and execution in the face of chaos, risk aversion, and an agile adversary.
Podcasts and Talks.
Apperences from our founder Mike Jones.
Systems Thinking and Strategy for Leaders : Join us for an insightful interview with Mike Jones, founder and director of LBI Consulting, as we dive into the world of systems thinking and strategy.
In this episode of The Change Agent Podcast, Eric sits down with Mike Jones, Founder and Director of LBI Consulting, to explore what leadership and strategy actually look like when certainty disappears and complexity takes over.
In this reflective solo episode, Mike Jones steps back from the guest chair to explore a deeper truth: strategy is failing long before execution begins.
Mike sees strategy not as a top-down process, where the wishes of management become the gospel of the employees: strategy emerges from the actions of all. In this process, the Viable System Model is a valuable tool to develop a strategy and Mike explains how.