Almost every strategy meeting is, deep down, discussing execution

Almost every meeting called strategy is, deep down, discussing execution.

An action plan and a strategy do not occupy the same place. The plan serves the present: the shop floor, the target, the routine of those who execute. Strategy serves direction, and direction is only built by reading what has not happened yet: politics, the economy, the next move of whoever regulates your sector. That is where real Business Strategy comes in, the difference between anticipating the scenario and chasing it afterwards.

In Corporate Governance work, what I see most is last year's plan running in a world that has already changed the subject.

And 2026 changed the subject fast. An election year here, the World Cup in the middle, open conflicts abroad, the American midterm election at the end. Each of these pieces moves exchange rates, interest rates and confidence at the same time. Your strategy needs to be the sharpest you have ever drawn. Not the one that was finished and never touched again.

Before defending yours, answer four questions:
• Are you reviewing the strategy, or just updating the schedule of those who execute?
• How many real alternatives reached the table before the one you settled on?
• Is there an obvious move nobody proposes, just to avoid being the first to own it?
• Do you have a route for year 0, year 3 and year 5, or does the plan end at the next close?

A strategy nobody reviews does not age slowly. It ages from one election to the next.

Whoever corrects course only when the scare arrives is not deciding. He is betting.

And the year that will collect this bill has already begun.