The New Essentials of Strategy. Stay Relevant in a Changing World.

Insights from Gerry Lynch, Director at Govn365

Some strategy conversations leave you energised — and slightly uncomfortable. That was exactly the case in my recent webinar with Dr Jason Fox. A few things really stood out for me, particularly around the signs that “strategy” has drifted into theatre.

Signs of Strategy That Needs a Reality Check

Jason’s “smell test” highlights common signals that strategy might be more style than substance:

• Bloated PowerPoints and heavy documentation – impressive to look at but rarely changes decisions
• Safe, undifferentiated language – could describe any company
• A “beautiful” plan that is neat and linear – quickly becomes irrelevant
• Boxes, pillars, and roadmaps – create an illusion of certainty

None of these are automatically bad — but often they indicate we’re optimising for comfort, not clarity.

Get Your Basics Straight

Jason offered a refreshingly grounded approach:

Know your business model – understand how you create value. A practical tool: the business model canvas — who you serve, what problem you solve, how you deliver it, and where the economics really sit.

Know your operating system – how you capture value in practice. Decision rights, rhythms, accountability, ways of working, and how work really gets done. Without this clarity, strategy conversations can get fluffy fast.

The Role of an External Challenger

Having an external person in the room isn’t about providing answers. It’s about:

• Creating space for the conversations you never quite get to
• Challenging assumptions and comfortable narratives
• Testing where incoherencies could lead to future irrelevance
• Developing a set of hypotheses for moving toward an aligned future
• Building a quiver of options — ideas you can test rather than bets you blindly commit to

The word “quiver” landed for me — the future doesn’t need one perfect plan, it needs options, intelligence, and the ability to adapt without thrashing.

Keep Strategy Alive: Link It to Your Rhythm

Annual strategy sessions are useful — but not enough. The edge comes from embedding strategy into your quarterly, monthly, and weekly rhythm and building a culture of continual sensing:

• What are customers telling us (and what aren’t they saying)?
• What’s happening at the front line?
• What’s changing at the edges that could matter sooner than we think?
• What patterns are emerging — and what do they mean for our choices?

Then bring that intelligence back, make sense of it, and adjust direction without drama.

Two Questions to Take to Your Team

1. If a competitor read our strategy deck, would they learn anything distinctive — or could it describe anyone?
2. What’s one incoherency in our model (customer, channel, capability, cost, or delivery) that could become a problem in 12–24 months?

If you want, hit reply and tell me what came up — I read every response.

Where Govn365 Fits

Govn365 helps boards and leadership teams:

• Build a clear operating rhythm across governance, risk, and strategy
• Surface gaps and blind spots that aren’t obvious from around the table
• Translate insights into practical action plans, keeping strategy alive rather than just discussed once a year

If you’d like a quick walkthrough, send us a message here..

Further Reading:
If you enjoyed Jason’s thinking, sign up for his newsletter at www.foxwizard.com for more provocations and practical tools.