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.

How comfort, control, and performance theatre stripped the movement out of strategy

Strategy was once a living craft. In ancient Greece, strategos described a commander who turned uncertainty, terrain, and limited resources to their advantage. It was not a concept to be discussed; it was a role to be lived. The strategist stood at the edge of the unknown, interpreting shifting conditions and acting through others to shape outcomes

Too often, we talk about strategy as if it were an artefact. Something you produce, publish, and put on a shelf. A plan, a framework, a deck.

But strategy is not a thing. It is not an output.

Strategy is a way of being.

It is lived. It is enacted. It is a way of thinking, a way of behaving, and most of all, the ongoing pursuit of viability.

In a world saturated by noise, narrative spin, and institutional echo chambers, the greatest threat to strategy is not what we don’t know. It’s how tightly we cling to what we think we do.

Most organisations will never notice the moment their strategy disconnects from reality. The numbers still look good. The meetings still run on time. The strategy still reads well on a slide. But somewhere, unnoticed, the feedback loop closes.

Most strategies fail because people are boxed in, not because they’re unmotivated

We spend too much time assuming strategy fails because of poor thinking, faulty plans, or lack of buy-in. But more often, strategy fails in execution because, when it meets the real world, the organisation is unable to act.

Not unwilling. Unable.

The real enemy of execution isn't resistance. It's subtle sabotage disguised as regular work.

In 1944, the CIA's predecessor, the OSS, published a field guide to help ordinary citizens sabotage enemy operations from within. The now-declassified Simple Sabotage Field Manual is both darkly comic and brutally insightful.

The value isn't in the plan. It's in how you prepare to adapt.

There's a military adage that's made its way into business circles: "No plan survives first contact." Eisenhower sharpened it further: "The plan is nothing; planning is everything."

But most organisations still treat planning as if the goal is to lock everything down. Define every milestone. Predict every variable. Control every outcome.

And then they are surprised when it falls apart.

Too often, purpose is treated as something you declare, design, and disseminate. It's written on the walls, embedded into decks, and broadcast at town halls. But when leaders treat purpose as real simply because it's been said, they mistake narrative for reality, and control for coherence.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: It doesn’t matter what you say your organisation exists to do. It matters what your organisation actually does.