Hi {{ subscriber.first_name }}, Think of the last big strategy you saw. The design looked solid — market analysis, competitor benchmarks, bold growth targets. But a year later, little had changed. This happens everywhere. The gap isn’t in ideas; it’s in execution.
Harvard Business Review found that 67% of well-formulated strategies fail due to poor execution. It’s not a lack of vision — it’s a failure to translate vision into consistent action.
The Traps of Execution
1. Misalignment at the top.
The executive team nods in agreement during the strategy retreat. But back at HQ, each pursues their own version of success. Sales chases volume, Finance cuts costs, Operations prioritizes efficiency. The result? Cross-purposes, wasted energy, and frustration.
2. Communication breakdown.
By the time strategy filters down, it’s diluted into buzzwords. Employees hear, “grow smarter, innovate more” — but what does that mean for their day-to-day? Without translation into concrete actions, strategy dies in the gap between intention and understanding.
3. No real accountability.
In many companies, execution is everyone’s job — which means it’s no one’s job. Without clear ownership, deadlines slip and excuses multiply. I worked with a CEO who realized 80% of his strategic initiatives had no named accountable leader. They weren’t failing — they were simply drifting.
How to Close the Execution Gap
So how do the best companies avoid this graveyard?
1. Relentless clarity.
Leaders underestimate how much repetition matters. Employees don’t need new slogans every quarter; they need consistent clarity. One CEO I advised built every town hall around the same three priorities — quarter after quarter. Some executives felt it was repetitive. But frontline staff finally internalized what mattered most. That’s when execution started moving.
2. Cascading priorities.
It’s not enough to say: “We want 10% market growth.” Every function must translate that ambition into their specific actions. For example: Sales defines new accounts to target. Marketing aligns campaigns. Operations adjusts delivery capacity. Each level knows their piece of the puzzle. Without this cascade, the strategy never becomes operational reality.
3. Visible accountability.
The best CEOs create transparency. They make execution visible — dashboards, open reviews, progress tracking. One company I worked with used “strategy walls” in every office, where initiatives were listed with accountable names and traffic-light status. Nobody wanted their project flashing red in public. Accountability became cultural.
So... Strategy doesn’t fail in the design. It fails in the doing. Leaders win when execution becomes impossible to ignore.
Andrea Petrone CEO Whisperer | Top 1% Executive Coach and Speaker in the UK | Founder of WCL. You need more? Here are other ways to get value from what I do: 1) Do you like what you read? Share this newsletter with your friends and colleagues 2) Want to establish authority and lead with confidence from Day One as a CEO?
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