The Choices you make

If everyone on your team stopped talking for a day, would the strategy still be obvious in their actions?

If not, I don’t think you have a strategy.
You have a slide deck.

Strategy shows up in the choices you make.
Your priorities.
Your behavior.

In other words: in what people actually do.

Not in what they say they’d do.
Or in what they really meant to do.
Or the fancy sounding ambitions they’ll never do.

Words can gloss over this. We’re good at coming up with good sounding stuff that pretends we’re making progress.

But what ultimately matters is: What actions do those words lead to?

Let’s take this thought a little further:

→ What would someone see if they watched your team for a day without hearing a single word?

→ What’s the clearest action your strategy should spark? Is everyone aware of it? And would they know it when they see it?

→ If your team had to explain the strategy without slides, what example would they point to?

Curious what comes up for you.
And I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Keep lighting the path!

New rules

Every morning, leaders and teams across your organization face a choice:

  1. Play by the rules, hopefully a little better than yesterday.

Or

  1. Take a leap towards the extraordinary. Change the game. Play a better game.

But of course, many don’t even realize there is a choice.

Because the routines feel safe.
The rules feel settled.
And they’re good at it. (Perhaps even praised for it.)

So they keep optimizing a game that no longer serves the goal.
They run faster on a path that leads nowhere new.

Meanwhile, the leaders who do leap?

They stopped to ask different questions.
They challenged the brief (not just fulfilled it).
They reframed what success could look like.

And suddenly, the rules shift.
The playing field expands.
New outcomes become possible.

Not only in their company, but in the industry.

What game are you playing today?
And who decided the rules?

Does your team have permission to leap?

Keep lighting the path!

Status Update Day

It’s Monday. Status update day in many teams.
But listen closely …

you’ll hear a lot of words that sound like progress but without any actual progress.

Because somewhere along the way, “status update” stopped meaning “how far we’ve come”.

And started meaning “how good we sound”.

It’s about protecting (if not pushing) personal status, rather than monitoring project status.

No wonder real problems stay hidden.

What does “status update” mean in your team?

Keep lighting the path!

Where’s the point?

Some books change your mind in one sentence.
Others take 300 pages and still miss a point.

Same goes for your strategy.

If it takes 63 slides to explain its essence,
does it even have a point?

Turns out, strategic impact isn’t about how complex and elaborate a strategy is.

But about whether you can say it clearly enough for people to understand it, embrace it, and act on it.

Sometimes, it only takes a few words to achieve that.

How many do you need?

Keep lighting the path!

How to boost your Executive Presence

Executive Presence is among the funniest things being hyped at the moment.

Because, you know, there isn’t really much to it.
But everyone talks about it like it’s some mysterious power.

If you want to boost your presence, the best way to do it is to be actually present.

In this moment.
In this room.
With these people.

What do you think? Is there more to it?

Keep lighting the path!

You don’t need a new strategy

You need people to understand the one you have.

Since launching my latest book in October I’m running a poll on my blog. Here’s some shocking (yet unsurprising) data:

→ fewer than 33% said employees can describe the strategy in their own words,

→ fewer than 25% said employees know what it means for their everyday actions.

Let that sink in.

The vast majority of teams doesn’t know what their strategy means for their everyday actions. Apparently, in most teams people are working hard, but much of that effort is wasted. No wonder, there’s frustration.

I’m pretty sure it’s not that they don’t care. The path is unclear.

The problem is that leadership often spends enormous time (and money) to craft the strategy.

And almost no time thinking about how to communicate it.

But strategy isn’t a measure of intelligence.
It’s a measure of action.

So, honestly now: Can your team say what your strategy means? For their actions?

Not just repeat the words.
Explain what to do differently today because of it.

If not, the next step isn’t more planning.
It’s better communication.

In a couple of hours, Harald Krytinar and I are hosting a free online session to help you with this.

It’s called “Clarity Lab” because will break down real examples to see how great strategy communication looks like.

We’d love to see you there …

Keep lighting the path!

Do you mean it?

Most companies want to stand for something bigger.
Few actually do. Here’s how it becomes your strategic advantage.

It’s actually simple.
And one word summarizes it well: Commitment.
Mean what you say.

Do you?

So many businesses talk about values, purpose, the planet.
But how many of them actually mean what they say?
Most crumble at the first difficult trade-off.

Patagonia didn’t.
You’re probably familiar with their purpose:

“We’re in business to save our home planet.”

It sounds almost too idealistic to be true. But unlike almost every other business they mean it. For them, it’s not just a clever spin. It’s their actual business model.

And they made some bold moves most brands would never risk. For example:

  • A New York Times ad that begged you not to buy their jacket.
  • Mobile workshops that repair gear for free.
  • A legal structure that funnels every dollar beyond reinvestment straight into environmental work.

No, really! We mean it!

This level of commitment is hard to find elsewhere. But it’s one of eight patterns I’ve found when researching for my book The PATH to Strategic Impact.

Statements so bold other businesses will find them ridiculous.

This opens up a strategic advantage that’s hard to match because it’s a commitment so costly, other businesses would never dare to copy it.

And it’s a perfect example of the four PATH principles in real life: Plain and simple, Actionable, Transformative, and Heartfelt.

In the Clarity Lab, Harald Krytinar and I, will uncover more patterns of successful strategy communication.

We will dig into real examples from real businesses and pull them apart until we clearly see why they work and how you can adapt the pattern for you business.

Hope to see you there …

Keep lighting the path!

So you want to focus?

What hard choice are you willing to make out loud?

I’ve seen so many strategies fail because no one had that courage. No one dared to say what must be given up.

What not to do.
What to stop.
What to ignore.

But of course, the trade-off doesn’t magically disappear.
You can’t have it all.

It simply becomes someone else’s problem. When you won’t name the trade-off, you essentially pass it down the line. (Or delegate it to time.)

And this could be the result:

Strategic drift.
Each team selects their own focus.
They’re busy, but not aligned.

Decision paralysis.
No one wants to get it wrong.
So teams escalate, delay, or wait for more guidance.

Frustration.
Mid-level managers and frontline teams juggle with ambiguity.
They’re the ones left to “translate” it to tasks.
Always at danger of picking the wrong translation.

Leadership distortion.
When leadership doesn’t make the call, someone else will.
Someone will fill the gap.

In short, teams waste time in debates,
they build the wrong things (perhaps beautifully),
and smart people stop trusting what they hear.

If that’s not what you want, don’t delegate focus. Own it.

Keep lighting the path.

What’s the best way to kill even the smartest strategy?

I’d say it’s grandiose words.

Words that sound ambitious but don’t shape a single decision.

Messages like “We are the most customer-centric company.”

Sounds truly ambitious. Spectacularly so.
But what does it actually mean?
🤔 Ship now or wait for feedback?
🤔 Prioritize speed or service?
🤔 Who decides?

“We act as one team.” Same problem.
“We lead through innovation.” Same again.

No one knows how to act on it.

When a message doesn’t guide action, progress stalls. At best.

More often, people will fill in the blanks themselves. And when they do they rarely head in the same direction. Debates, confusion, wasted resources are the result.

That’s why it’s so important that your words are actionable. It’s one of the four PATH principles from “The PATH to Strategic Impact.”

So, can you find words that are crystal clear on what your strategy means for the everyday actions of your team?

Keep lighting the path!

You’re invited to the Clarity Lab


This is a new format I’m really excited about.
It’s called “Clarity Lab” and we mean it …

Most leaders know how to craft a strategy.
But they struggle to communicate it in a way that people actually act on.

A couple of weeks ago, Harald Krytinar moderated two events in Sweden where I was invited to speak about strategy communication and “The PATH to Strategic Impact”.

After the events, people told us how much they liked the examples and how we broke them down, especially the fact that these were the good ones. Simple messages that sparked real success inside real organizations.

We’re gonna expand on that. We’ll break down three fascinating case studies to see what works 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. From businesses that got the words just right to spark immense results. And some that didn’t.

Our goal is to uncover the patterns behind messages that actually change how people think and act.

Just like in Sweden, this will be a highly interactive session. We want this to be directly applicable to your case. So bring your questions and learn how you can adapt the patterns to your business.

More specifically, we’ll talk about
→ what strategic clarity really means,
→ how to craft a message people actually act on,
→ why a few well-chosen words can be more impactful than a 72 slides strategy deck.

Attendees will also get exclusive access to
“A Guide to Powerful Strategic Messages”

The session will be on June 11th at 12pm Eastern time / 6pm CEST. Details and registration here.

It’s free but seats are limited.

Hope to see you there.

Keep lighting the path!

PS: If you know someone who would benefit from this, please forward this so they have a chance to join.

Picture of Dr. Michael Gerharz

Dr. Michael Gerharz