Universal agreement is usually a red flag, not a green flag. I used to think a solid strategy meant getting everyone aligned behind a shared vision. Turns out, if everyone’s happily bought in, it’s almost always because no real choice was made.
And here’s the part that should make every leader uncomfortable: a real strategy is designed to upset people. Obsessive focus on a single crux means ruthless trade-offs — and ruthless trade-offs create friction. That’s not a side effect. That’s the point.
I’ve seen both failure modes up close. Leaders so obsessed with cutting costs and executing a retrenchment plan that they completely missed the wave of change happening in their industry — by the time they caught on, they’d lost the talent that could have carried them into the future. And I’ve seen the opposite — endless study, observation, analysis, and zero action.
The most uncomfortable part for me personally? Clients don’t want to alienate people. They believe — almost religiously — that strategy means getting everyone on the same page. We’ve been sold this idea for decades. Moving people away from it is hard.
The question I keep coming back to: how would I know if I’ve identified the right crux? Educated guesses don’t help much when the stakes are high. You can’t cure cancer with a few pops of paracetamol.