Imagine spending months crafting a detailed, data-driven strategy, only to watch it gather dust on a shelf. This scenario plays out far too often in the corporate world.
In a rapidly shifting business landscape, with advances like AI, quantum computing, advanced robotics, blockchain, and gene editing, spending valuable time and resources developing a strategically useless plan may be more damaging than having no strategy at all.
As someone with a background in strategy consulting and corporate strategy, I’ve often encountered organizations that invest significant resources into crafting detailed, well-researched strategies — only for those strategies to fall short of their potential.
The problem isn’t an absence of rigor or intelligence, but rather lack of clear direction or a failure to resonate with the realities of the organization. In these cases, strategies become what I call ‘strategically useless’ — brilliant in theory but ineffective in practice.
Let’s explore why this happens and how to avoid it.
Three Reasons Why Strategies Become Useless
1. Lack of Focus
Many strategies suffer from vague or overly generic goals like “increase revenue”, “drive innovation”, or “revitalize the brand”.
While these ambitions sound impressive, they often lack specificity and fail to provide a clear direction for action.
Without concrete objectives and a clear rationale, teams struggle to prioritize their efforts, leading to confusion and inefficiency.
A useful strategy must translate high-level aspirations into actionable, measurable goals that guide decision-making and focus resources effectively.
For example, J.C. Penney introduced a rebranding strategy in 2012, which included eliminating discounts and introducing boutique-style stores. The changes were not only ambitious but also poorly aligned with customer expectations, leading to confusion among shoppers. Over a 12 month period, the company’s market capitalization dropped by more than US$5 billion. Lack of focus on what really matters can seriously harm your business, sometimes fatally.
2. Inability to Execute
A strategy detached from the organization’s capabilities, resources, or culture is destined to fail. Execution requires alignment with operational realities, not just a vision of where the organization wants to go. If a strategy doesn’t account for how goals will be achieved, it risks becoming irrelevant or, worse, a source of frustration.
WeWork is a classic example of failure of execute on ambitious goals. The firm aimed to become the world’s leading co-working space, and CEO Adam Neumann estimated the size of the market for shared office space by counting anyone with an office job. The firm had no clear path to profitability, its Messianic ambitions eventually outpacing its financial resources and operational capabilities, and it filed for bankruptcy in 2023.
3. Neglecting Buy-In
Strategies developed in isolation — without involving the people responsible for execution — lack the ownership and support needed for success. Without alignment across stakeholders, even the best ideas can stall. Engagement isn’t just about communication; it’s about creating shared accountability and purpose.
United Airlines famously failed to get buy-in from flight attendants to support its strategy of overbooking flights. Since a small number of passengers typically fail to show up for each flight, overbooking usually generates more profit per flight. However, flight attendants are the ones tasked with implementing the policy. In 2017, the police were called to forcibly remove one passenger from an overbooked flight, sparking public outrage. Lack of buy-in from key stakeholders can lead to poor execution or a failure to anticipate challenges.
Five Hallmarks of a Useful Strategy
Now that we’ve identified the pitfalls, let’s explore five hallmarks of a useful strategy.
1. Simple
Useful strategies cut through complexity to focus on what truly matters. Simplicity doesn’t mean oversimplifying — it means making the strategy clear enough that everyone can understand the strategy and align their actions accordingly.
Starbucks has suffered from a complicated strategy in recent times. Faced with declining customer loyalty in the mid-2010s, the company considered multiple strategies, such as expanded menu options, drive throughs, and mobile ordering. However, the multi pronged approach created confusion among baristas and diluted the traditional customer experience associated with a relaxing ‘third place’ away from home and work.
2. Decisive
Great strategies involve making hard choices. Reliably delivering value to customers requires the ability to say “no” to many good ideas that don’t align with core priorities. Without the willingness to make trade-offs, strategies risk becoming diluted, scattered, and ineffective. Decisiveness ensures focus, enabling teams to channel their resources towards what truly matters.
Steve Jobs exemplified decisiveness in the early 2000s when he streamlined Apple’s product lineup. Cutting dozens of projects allowed Apple to focus on a few core products, leading to one of the most remarkable business turnarounds in history.
3. Actionable
A strategy is only as good as its execution. To bridge the gap between vision and reality, it must include clear, practical steps that can be implemented effectively. This requires embedding execution into the strategy from the outset — aligning objectives with the organization’s capabilities, resources, and processes. An actionable strategy means that teams not only understand what needs to be done but also have the tools to do it.
For example, Microsoft decided to become a mobile first cloud-first company in 2014. Instead of relying on vague ambition, the strategy included actionable steps like investing heavily in Azure, transitioning core products to cloud-based subscription models, and retraining employees to support cloud services.
4. Measurable Outcomes
A strategy must define success in quantifiable terms to provide teams with a clear target and to enable progress tracking.
For instance, instead of saying “drive growth”, you could instead say “increase revenue in the mid-market segment by 15% over the next 12 months through targeted product offerings”.
5. Stakeholder Engagement
Collaboration is key to ensuring buy-in and driving a strategy’s success. Engaging stakeholders early in the process allows you to gather insights, address concerns, and build alignment around shared goals. Soliciting feedback fosters a sense of ownership among those responsible for execution, increasing motivation, creating accountability, and boosting the likelihood of success.
Unilever, for example, successfully launched a sustainability initiative in 2022 by engaging stakeholders across the organization. By involving key stakeholders the company could gather insights, address concerns, and align stakeholders with the shared goal of reducing plastic waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
How to Test If Your Strategy Is Useful
A useful strategy isn’t just a collection of big ideas to impress investors — it’s a framework that drives meaningful action and results.
To ensure your strategy isn’t just another big idea destined for the garbage bin, ask these questions:
1. Does it guide decision-making?
Can teams use the strategy to prioritize resources, resolve trade-offs, and make consistent choices aligned with organizational goals?
2. Is it actionable?
Are the steps for execution clear, realistic, aligned with the organization’s capabilities, and with defined roles, timelines, and lines of accountability?
3. Does it create measurable impact?
Are there specific metrics to track progress so that you know success has been achieved or that the strategy needs to adapt?
If the answer to any of these is “no”, it’s time to revisit and refine your strategy.
Final Thoughts: Strategy as a Driver of Change
A great strategy is more than an intellectual exercise — it’s a framework for driving meaningful change.
The most successful strategies balance ambition with practicality, ensuring they are not just aspirational but actionable.
By focusing on clarity, trade-offs, alignment, and engagement, you can create strategies that move organizations forward.
Ultimately, a strategy’s value is measured not by its elegance on paper, but by its ability to inspire action and deliver results.
Jason Oh is a Senior Manager at TD Bank’s Enterprise Strategy team. Previously, he was a strategy consultant at Strategy&, EYP, and Novantas, where he led and contributed to high-impact projects that delivered top- and bottom-line growth for leading financial institutions.
Image: DALL-E
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