Corporate Strategy Alignment

Lou Gerstner walked into IBM in 1993 expecting a strategy problem. What he found was worse. Here's what leaders need to learn: Every division had a strategy. Every executive had a vision. Every team was chasing a different goal. Engineering was building for one future. Sales was selling into another. Marketing had its own roadmap entirely. At his first exec meeting, each leader presented different success metrics: Revenue. Market share. Innovation. NPS. Same company, completely different definitions of winning. Gerstner didn’t write a new strategy. He did something more powerful: He mandated one framework for priorities. Same metrics. Same language. Same scorecard. Within 6 months, misalignment became visible. Within a year, IBM started moving as one. I saw the same pattern play out in a Fortune 500 basement. The quarterly review was nearly over when the Head of Ops paused: “I need to be honest. I don’t even know what our top 3 priorities are right now.” Silence. Then heads nodded. The CMO had been focused on brand. Sales thought revenue was the priority. The CTO was deep in infrastructure rebuild. The CFO was chasing cost control. 9 executives. 27 different priorities. 3 overlaps. That’s not a team. That’s a collection of soloists. Strategy isn’t the problem. Alignment is. Everyone knows the strategy. But what are they actually optimizing for this week? I’ve seen it again and again: • Monday: “Retention is everything” • Friday: Sales signs three bad-fit clients to hit quota • Product starts chasing new features • Success never gets the memo 5 days. Alignment gone. So how do you fix it? 1. Make priorities visible weekly Every Monday: top 3 org-wide priorities, posted publicly. No guessing. No side quests. 2. Create explicit handoffs Marketing, sales, product, and success - define the exact criteria for every handoff. Spotify did this. Discovered 40% of handoffs had misaligned expectations. 3. Run weekly alignment checks One question: What are you optimizing for this week? If it doesn’t match the org’s top 3, you catch drift instantly. 4. One source of truth No more 50 dashboards. Microsoft did this with their Customer Success Score. Every division had to contribute to the same North Star. Alignment doesn’t happen by accident. It deteriorates by default. Great companies don’t assume alignment. They build it systematically. That Fortune 500 team? 6 months later, they went from 27 priorities to 3. Revenue grew 18%. Engagement jumped 43% → 71%. All because they stopped guessing. Want more research-backed frameworks like this? Join 11,000+ execs who get our newsletter every week: 👉 https://lnkd.in/en9vxeNk

**Our new model for coordinating national sustainable finance objectives!** Reaching national climate goals demands coordination on climate action across governments, financial institutions, corporates, and societies! We put together a gameplan for this all-hands-on-deck strategy to improving climate action and climate risk management: the consortium approach. This accessible guide will help national actors develop sustainable finance consortium in their countries! 🔍We show case studies from the successful implementation of sustainable finance consortiums in four diverse countries: Ireland, Japan, Mexico, and Nigeria.    🔍 The report focuses on the pivotal role these consortiums play as platforms where financial institutions and business corporations collaborate to pursue climate-related financial disclosures.   🔍 It delves into the experiences of these jurisdictions in setting up consortiums and leveraging them to support the adoption of climate disclosure frameworks, such as #ISSB and #TCFD. Key objectives of the report: 🎯 Learn from successful models: Extract valuable insights from the experiences of jurisdictions that have successfully developed consortiums related to sustainability and climate disclosures.  🎯 Understand benefits and challenges: Gain a nuanced understanding of the benefits and challenges associated with establishing #sustainablefinance consortiums.  🎯 Provide a roadmap for implementation: Offer a comprehensive roadmap for entities seeking to establish their own consortiums, facilitating the integration of #sustainability and #climate disclosure frameworks.   "The Consortium Approach to Sustainability Reporting” is tailored for ✅ Financial institutions ✅ Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) ✅ Large companies in the private sector ✅ Industry associations ✅ Stock exchanges ✅ Financial regulators ✅ Government authorities and other stakeholders who are committed to enhancing sustainability and climate reporting within their organizations and the broader business environment. https://lnkd.in/eAqd2jBE #climatefinance #cop28 #climateaction #sustainablefinance #climaterisk   UNDP UNDP Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)

“Strategy is only as strong as the people who bring it to life.” So true, and so often ignored or forgotten. We tend to think of strategy as the masterplan that guides everything else. A document to align, a roadmap to follow, a blueprint for success. But strategy only becomes real through human interpretation. Once it leaves the boardroom, it stops being a plan and starts becoming a pattern of behavior. Each conversation, decision, and trade-off either reinforces or weakens it. I have seen brilliant strategies fail simply because the people tasked with executing them did not understand, believe in, or feel equipped to act on them. At the same time, I have seen less brilliant strategies succeed because people filled the gaps with creativity, trust, and shared purpose. That is the real test of strategy: whether it turns into coordinated human action. For that to happen, three conditions matter most. ↳ First, clarity. People need to know not only what the strategy says, but what it means for their own choices and priorities. ↳ Second, capability. Strategic thinking and alignment are not traits that appear by accident; they must be developed, practiced, and supported. ↳ Third, commitment. Without belief and ownership, execution becomes compliance rather than contribution. A strategy written in PowerPoint can look impressive, but until it shapes behavior, it is just potential energy. Organizations that understand this invest as much (or more!) in building strategic capability as they do in writing strategic plans. That is why the most successful leaders treat strategy as a shared human skill, not a top-down exercise. They help people connect ideas to action, vision to capability, and plans to lived reality. In the end, the strength of any strategy mirrors the strength of the people who carry it forward. Do your people have the strategic capabilities they need? #strategy #leadership #culture #big5ofstrategy

If you don't invest in brand, you pay the price in CAC every quarter until you exit. Just think about the greatest software brands out there like ServiceNow and Salesforce… Their brand enters the room way before their sales rep does (even as sales-led companies). The reality is, one or two suppliers like this end up becoming the top choice and grab the biggest chunk of market share. Once you become this top-of-mind choice, so many other things in your business become easier, and you have a moat around your business. Forget all the fluffy, emotional arguments around the brand. This is the logical argument that needs to be made in a CFO-level conversation. At Paddle, both Christian Owens as founder, and now Jimmy Fitzgerald as CEO, believe in brand. We think about it across 4 pillars: 1. Become the most 'helpful' brand in SaaS/Apps/wherever we go next I believe that helpfulness is a great path to a strong brand. We're always jumping on calls, helping out prospects and customers, showing up. Even for people & companies who aren't in the market for us. We have had over 250 entrepreneurs in first few AI Launchpad accelerators where we provide mentorship, funding opportunities and cash prizes, without asking for anything from them. Now I regularly hear from people say they met someone from Paddle and they went above and beyond. 2. Keep raising the bar The most competitive space in any market is mediocrity. So whatever we do on the brand front, the rule is: don't create another 'me too' campaign, ebook, launch. If everyone is aiming for clicks, that gives us a huge opportunity to cut through the noise and be remembered by going against the grain, and continuously raising the quality bar. That's how we ended up producing a documentary about our $200M ProfitWell acquisition, launched Paddle to space, and published original research that the entire SaaS world has seen. 3. Episodic lightning strikes Regular lightning strikes is how you build a brand. Not with one big brand campaign. So beyond showing up everywhere, it's about making sure we keep hammering down on our core messaging, POV, backed by data. Building trust by making our market feel like 'Paddle is here to stay'. 4. The product A lot of our brand investments are actually investments in product. You can do all the right things with your brand marketing, but if there’s a disconnect between what people might perceive initially and what they actually receive, you won’t build a strong brand. Paddle's value proposition is pretty ambitious. Managing all your payments, tax and compliance needs as a merchant of record, so you can focus on growth, is a big promise. We would have never lived up to it if we didn't invest heavily in product.

"Culture change" is the biggest lie in organizational transformation. Here's what actually happens: You run workshops. You print posters. You train people on new values. Six months later, behavior looks exactly the same. Why? Because you've got the causality backwards. Culture follows structure. Not the other way around. Craig Larman captured this in his Laws of Organizational Behavior. The first law: Organizations are implicitly optimized to avoid changing the status quo of middle- and first-level manager positions and power structures. Read that again. Your organization isn't resisting change because people are difficult. It's resisting change because it's designed to resist change. The structure, rewards, and processes are all optimized to preserve existing power. Want to change culture? Change the structure. Want people to collaborate? Remove the structural barriers that make collaboration expensive. Want innovation? Create Product Groups with real P&L ownership and decision-making authority. Want customer focus? Merge customer-facing and product development units so everyone shares the same measures of success. Jay Galbraith's Star Model shows this clearly: Strategy, Structure, Processes, Rewards, and People practices must be in harmony. Change one without the others, and the system snaps back. Stop running culture workshops. Start redesigning your organization. The culture you want will emerge from the structure you create. #SimplificationOfficers #OrganizationalChange

We spend a lot of time making decisions. But not enough time designing how we make them. Most people rely on habit, instinct, or advice. The best thinkers rely on frameworks. Mental models that cut through the noise and spotlight what actually matters. These 7 decision-making razors don’t just boost productivity. They sharpen your thinking and align your actions with strategy. 🧠 Occam’s Razor: Simpler is smarter → When in doubt, choose the least complicated explanation → Great for: troubleshooting, clarity, diagnosing fast 🧠 Hanlon’s Razor: Don’t assume bad intent → Most mistakes are due to confusion, not cruelty → Great for: conflict resolution, team dynamics, giving grace 🧠 First Principles Thinking: Rebuild from zero → Strip away assumptions. Start from undeniable truths → Great for: innovation, disruption, big-picture thinking 🧠 The Eisenhower Matrix: Urgency ≠ importance → Don’t let the loudest task win. Focus on impact → Great for: time management, prioritization, strategy 🧠 Inversion: Flip the problem → Ask what would cause failure, then design around it → Great for: risk management, planning, avoiding blind spots 🧠 Chesterton’s Fence: Pause before you change → Understand the purpose before removing what exists → Great for: evolving systems, editing rules, leading change 🧠 Hell Yes or No: Use energy as your filter → If it’s not a clear yes, it’s a no → Great for: boundaries, decision fatigue, opportunity filtering Clarity isn’t always about knowing more. Sometimes, it’s about thinking differently. 📥 Save this to sharpen how you think and decide. 🔁 Repost to help others cut through the noise. ➕ Follow Desiree Gruber for more insights on storytelling, leadership, and brand building.

Your business strategy is worthless if your team can't execute it Want to know why 90% of organisations fail to execute their strategies successfully? It's because most leaders jump straight to execution without building proper foundations. The solution? The Strategy Pyramid. Here's how to use it to turn your vision into reality: 1/ Start with Purpose (Your Foundation) Your purpose is the foundation that everything else builds upon. ↳ Define your mission: Not just what you do, but why you do it. ↳ Establish your core values: They're not just words, they're your compass. ↳ Clarify your vision: Where you're heading in the long term. 2/ Develop Your Strategy (The Bridge) This is where purpose meets practical planning. ↳ Identify your strategic intent: What specific moves will win in your market. ↳ Understand your drivers: What market opportunities you'll seize. ↳ Secure your enablers: The right people, technology, and resources. 3/ Focus on Execution (Making It Real) This is where strategy becomes reality through focused action. ↳ Set clear targets: Turn big goals into specific, measurable actions. ↳ Track performance indicators: Use numbers that tell the truth. ↳ Create a strategy map: Keep everyone aligned and moving forward. Ready to build yours? ↳ Start with purpose. ↳ Add clear strategy. ↳ Execute with precision. Remember: Success isn't random. It's building your pyramid, one level at a time. The key is to start with strong foundations before rushing to action. ➡️ Tell me in the comments: What's your biggest challenge when it comes to implementing your strategy? ♻️ Share this post to help other leaders build stronger strategies. ➕ Follow me, Jen Blandos, for actionable daily insights on business, entrepreneurship, and workplace well-being.

When an organisation enters a major transformation phase, certain challenges are not just expected, they are inevitable. Over the years, I have observed that these challenges cut across the entire system, influencing people, performance, and processes in profound ways. The first and most visible challenge is resistance from existing employees. This resistance emerges from the uncertainty created during change, uncertainty about roles, expectations, job security, and the overall stability of the environment. This is natural, because transformation is fundamentally a mindset shift, not a transactional shift. It requires patience, clarity, and the ability to deal with the expectations and behaviours of the team. The next major challenge is explaining the ‘why’ behind the change. While the executive leadership may fully understand the need and urgency, this message often does not travel with the same clarity to the middle and lower levels where most of the change is actually implemented. When the ‘why’ is not communicated effectively, a communication gap forms, and alignment suffers. From my personal experience, the biggest challenge is maintaining current performance levels during the transition. If productivity remains stable, stakeholders stay confident. But if performance dips significantly as it often can stakeholders begin to question the change itself and lose trust in the change agents. This single challenge has the potential to derail a well-planned transformation if not handled proactively. A fourth challenge is building the new competencies and behaviours required for the future state. Transformation demands new skills. Identifying these requirements, designing robust training programmes, and integrating them into the workforce is a critical and complex task. Finally, perhaps the most serious challenge is the impact on customer quality and service levels. If customer experience deteriorates during the transition, it affects market trust and may undermine the entire transformation effort. Ensuring that quality and service remain uncompromised is non-negotiable. These challenges, along with the need for patience and perseverance, form the real test of any transformation journey. Addressing them with clarity, consistency, and empathy makes all the difference between a temporary disruption and a long-term, successful organisational shift. #ChangeManagement #OrganizationalTransformation #Leadership #BusinessStrategy

A roadmap is not a strategy! Yet, most strategy docs are roadmaps + frameworks. This isn't because teams are dumb. It's because they lack predictable steps to follow. This is where I refer them to Ed Biden's 7-step process: — 1. Objective → What problem are we solving? Your objective sets the foundation. If you can’t define this clearly, nothing else matters. A real strategy starts with: → What challenge are we responding to? → Why does this problem matter? → What happens if we don’t solve it? — 2. Users → Who are we serving? Not all users are created equal. A strong strategy answers: · What do they need most? · Who exactly are we solving for? · What problems are they already solving on their own? A strategy without sharp user focus leads to feature bloat. — 3. Superpowers → What makes us different? If you’re competing on the same playing field as everyone else, you’ve already lost. Your strategy must define: · What can we do 10x better than anyone else? · Where can we persistently win? · What should we not do? This is where strategy meets competitive advantage. — 4. Vision → Where are we going? A roadmap tells you what’s next. A vision tells you why it matters. Most PMs confuse vision with strategy. But a vision is long-term. It’s a north star. Your strategy answers: How do we get there? — 5. Pillars → What are our focus areas? If everything is a priority, nothing really is. In my 15 years of experience, great strategy always come with a trade-offs: → What are our big bets? → What do we need to execute to move towards our vision? → What are we intentionally not doing? — 6. Impact → How do we measure success? Most teams obsess over vanity metrics. A great strategy tracks what actually drives business success. What outcomes matter? → How will we track progress? → What signals tell us we’re on the right path? — 7. Roadmap → How do we execute? A roadmap should never be a list of everything you could do. It should be a focus list of what truly matters. Problems and outcomes are the currency here. Not dates and timelines. — For personal examples of how I do this, check out my post: https://lnkd.in/e5F2J6pB — Hate to break it to you, but you might be operating without a strategy. You might have a nicely formatted strategy doc in front of you, but it’s just a… A roadmap? a feature list? a wishlist? If it doesn’t connect vision to execution, prioritize trade-offs, and define competitive edge… It’s not strategy. It’s just noise.