Most strategies don’t start badly. There is a vision.There are ambitions. There are numbers attached to it: increase market share, improve profitability, attract new customers, grow faster. On paper, it often makes sense. And yet, somewhere between the strategy deck and everyday reality, something happens. Or rather, something doesn’t happen. The results don’t fully follow. When strategy becomes a list of intentions Part of the difficulty is how strategy is often understood.

When change arrives in an organization, the visible shifts tend to take centre stage: new processes, new structures, new systems. What is less visible — and often far more decisive — is what happens to people . Change destabilises. Even when it is necessary, well-intended, or exciting on paper, it disrupts routines, identities, and informal certainties. And when that happens, people do not turn first to strategy decks, project plans, or leadership statements. They turn to tho