Many CxOs and executives believe that the real work is done once the transformation strategy has been approved.

That is exactly where most failings begin.

A strategy that cannot be implemented in day-to-day business and operations is not a strategy; it’s a wish list. Anyone who fails to consider, during strategy development, how the environment influences decision-making, how processes are carried out, how leadership is understood, and how employees are engaged is planning without regard to reality.

Transformation does not fail due to a lack of will. It usually fails because feasibility is (if at all) only considered after the strategy has been approved.

A good strategy doesn’t just describe the goal. From the very beginning, it takes into account how the path to that goal can be navigated under the company’s real-world conditions.

The crucial question, therefore, is not: “Do we have the right strategy?”
But rather: “Can our strategy even be consistently implemented, and if so, how?”

So, anyone who doesn’t think through the entire journey from start to finish right from the beginning usually gets stuck somewhere along the way.