Is Your Strategy “Mission Impossible?”

I grew up watching “Mission Impossible.” I was always struck by the opening—when the faceless voice said that if the team didn’t succeed, “the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions…” It reminded me of a few recent discussions with executive teams who think their strategic plan is “mission impossible” and worry about the blowback when the plan doesn’t happen.

Strategic plans do “fail”—routinely. Across all sectors, 67% of organizations don’t succeed in implementing new strategies—assuming “failure” is defined as the inability to achieve objectives (see Why 67 Percent Of Strategic Plans Fail . . .