Strategy is top management's plan they believe if done right, will enable their organization to achieve its intended purpose. For profit-based organizations, the intended purpose is typically to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage that translates into top and bottom line growth for the benefit of the owners. For non-profit organizations, the intended purpose is typically delivering a service to their targeted group of beneficiaries.

In most organizations, the executive team invests many man weeks of time and effort developing their strategy in what has become an annual ritual. Once this strategy is defined, it should be communicated and translated into many man-years of tactics, that ultimately should become detailed tasks assigned to every associate in the organization.

Most organizations have a fairly well defined and documented strategy because doing so is a well-accepted management practice. Unfortunately driving an organization through the essential changes to make its strategy a reality proves to be an insurmountable challenge.