Rashid Al Mohanadi
In today’s governmental and corporate, world strategy has become an industry in itself—one that thrives on endless planning, sophisticated frameworks, and an obsession with key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure everything except actual progress. Governments and companies hold countless strategy workshops, produce elaborate PowerPoint slides, and craft lengthy mission statements that sound profound but mean little in practice.
The problem isn’t strategy itself. A strong, well-thought-out strategy is essential for guiding an organization. But when the process of strategizing becomes an end rather than a means to an end, it leads to inertia. Organizations become stuck in a cycle of planning, analyzing, and refining rather than executing. The result? Leaders who mistake talking about strategy for real leadership and organizations that look busy but accomplish little.
This addiction to strategy is one of the biggest threats to organizational performance today. It creates a false sense of progress, shields leaders from accountability, and wastes valuable resources on initiatives that don’t move the organization forward. Execution discipline—the ability to translate strategy into real, measurable results—is what separates successful orgenizations from those that fail.
The Comfort of Strategy Without Execution
Why do so many organizations fall into the trap of endless strategizing? One key reason is that it provides a sense of control. Leaders feel that by constantly refining their strategy, they are ensuring the success of the company. But in reality, most strategies fail not because they weren’t well-designed but because they weren’t executed properly.
Another reason is that planning feels safe. Execution, on the other hand, is risky. It requires making difficult decisions, allocating resources effectively, and dealing with the unpredictability of the real world. Strategy discussions create the illusion that everything is under control, even when nothing is actually happening on the ground.
Many leaders also use the strategy process as a form of self-preservation. By keeping their organizations in a constant state of planning, they avoid real accountability. As long as the company is refining its strategy, no one can be blamed for a lack of results. If things don’t go well, leaders can always point to the strategy documents and claim that the execution was flawed—without ever questioning whether the strategy itself was realistic.
The KPI Illusion: Measuring Everything Except What Matters
Another symptom of strategy addiction is the overuse of KPIs. organizations today are obsessed with metrics. They measure everything from employee engagement scores to the number of hours spent in training. While metrics are useful, many organizations fall into the trap of measuring activity rather than impact.
For example, a company might track how many meetings its executives attend, how many strategy documents they produce, or how many hours employees spend in training programs. These numbers look impressive on a report, but they don’t tell us whether the company is actually moving towards its vision.
Real execution discipline requires focusing on a few key metrics that truly reflect success. These should be directly tied to the company’s strategic goals and should measure outcomes, not just effort. If a company is serious about execution, it should be asking: Are we delivering measurable results, or are we just producing more reports?
The Cost of Strategy Addiction
The obsession with strategy and planning has real costs. Every hour spent in a strategy workshop is an hour not spent executing. Every additional KPI that isn’t tied to outcomes is a distraction. The more time an organization spends in planning mode, the slower it becomes, and the more opportunities it misses.
Contrast this with companies that prioritize execution. Take Amazon, for example. Jeff Bezos has long emphasized a culture of rapid decision-making and relentless execution. The company doesn’t wait for perfect strategies—it moves quickly, learns from real-world data, and adapts as needed. Similarly, SpaceX operates with an execution-first mentality. Instead of getting bogged down in endless planning, the company launches, tests, fails, and iterates. This ability to act quickly is what allows it to achieve breakthroughs while legacy aerospace firms struggle to keep up.
In contrast, many large corporations fall into analysis paralysis. They spend months refining their strategies, only to see their plans become irrelevant by the time they’re ready to execute. This slow, bureaucratic approach is why many established companies struggle to compete with more agile startups.
Cutting the Blah Blah: A Framework for Execution Discipline
How can organizations break free from the cycle of endless strategizing and start executing with discipline? Here are a few key principles:
1. Reduce Strategy Meetings to What’s Necessary
Most strategy meetings don’t lead to actionable decisions. Organizations should limit strategy discussions to what’s absolutely necessary. If a meeting doesn’t result in a clear, time-bound decision, it’s a waste of time.
2. Eliminate Useless KPIs
Companies should focus on a handful of metrics that truly measure success. These should be tied to tangible business outcomes rather than vague indicators of activity. If a KPI doesn’t directly contribute to execution, it should be discarded.
3. Hold Leaders Accountable for Execution
Many executives are rewarded for their ability to develop strategies rather than their ability to execute them. This needs to change. Leaders should be evaluated based on their ability to deliver results, not just their ability to articulate a vision.
4. Empower Teams to Make Decisions
Execution requires speed. If every decision needs to go through layers of approval, progress slows to a crawl. Organizations should empower teams to make decisions quickly and take ownership of their work.
5. Create a Bias for Action
Instead of waiting for perfect plans, organizations should focus on rapid execution and iterative improvement. The best strategies are shaped through action, not endless refinement.
6. Cut the Strategy Overhead
Some organizations employ entire departments dedicated to strategy formulation. While strategic planning is important, these teams should not exist in isolation. Strategy should be embedded in execution, not treated as a separate function.
Execution Over Strategy: The Future of Winning Organizations
At the end of the day, organizations don’t succeed because of how well they articulate their strategy—they succeed because of how well they execute it. Companies that prioritize execution over endless planning will move faster, adapt better, and deliver more value.
The rest? They’ll be stuck in their strategy workshops, debating the future while the competition moves ahead. It is useful to take a play out of military studies when it comes to the topic of strategy, summarizing one’s strategy as end, means and ways. If we can easily define our ends, understand our means and choose our ways we have enough to execute. Imagine if a military keeps monitoring useless KPIs and conducting strategy workshops rather than fighting, are they really going to win a war? The real challenge for leaders today is not crafting the perfect strategy but developing the discipline to execute. That means cutting the blah blah, focusing on what really matters, and getting back to work!.
- Rashid Al Mohanadi, Partner & Managing Director, Catalyst Consulting
