Leading with Strategy

6Rebalancing Strategy: A New Era of Design and Execution

In most organizations today, the strategy process is heavily weighted toward analysis and planning. Leaders invest significant time and resources in understanding the landscape, building forecasts, and crafting detailed plans. These steps are not without value, but they have come to dominate the cycle in a way that often delays, distorts, or derails real strategic impact.

Strategy hinges on four interconnected stages:

1. Analysis
2. Design and Formulation
3. Planning
4. Implementation

Yet if you observe how most organizations allocate their attention and energy, the balance is off. This becomes clear when we look at the visual.

We tend to spend most of our time and effort on analysis and planning while underinvesting in what truly moves organizations forward: design and implementation. It is time we shift our focus.

The Illusion of Control Through Analysis

Imagine an alien visiting Earth, observing executive teams preparing their strategies. What would they see? An endless stream of spreadsheets, dashboards, risk matrices, and five‐year projections. Management consultants tweak their frameworks. Forecasts are polished. Strategy decks are refined and recirculated. At some point, a massive document emerges, sent out for review and then promptly skimmed; perhaps only the executive summary is read.

When the market shifts or results ...