Strategy Doesn’t Live in PowerPoint

I’ve been in boardrooms where the strategy was flawless on paper. The slides were perfect. The numbers aligned. The roadmap looked unstoppable.
And then… nothing happened.
Not because the strategy was wrong, but because the execution never stood a chance. The plan never left the boardroom.
There’s a disconnect that happens when leadership falls in love with strategy but forgets to bring it to the people who actually make it real. When that happens, all the intelligence, investment, and intention in the world will fail.
Strategy is not a slide deck. It’s not a vision statement. It’s not a quarterly target.
Strategy is how your shift manager makes a decision on a Tuesday.
It’s how your sales team talks about your product in the field.
It’s how the line worker understands why something matters.
I’ve seen the failure of great ideas because they were too far removed from the people executing them. And I’ve seen average ideas win because they were rooted in reality.
Leadership has to translate vision into action and that means getting close to the front line. Not hovering from above. Walking it. Listening to it. Being humble enough to ask, “What would this really take to work?”
The best strategy is not the most elegant. It’s the one people understand and believe in.
If you want traction, stop refining your vision and start refining your connection.
Because if your strategy can’t survive outside the meeting room, then it was never real to begin with.