Most organizations do not fail at strategy because the strategy is wrong. They fail because the organization never learns to behave as if the strategy is real. That is the central argument
Dr. Kyle Harkema makes in his book Strategic Clarity. He is the creator of the Strategic Orientation Index (SOI™), a diagnostic tool that functions like an organizational MRI, revealing the hidden misalignment between what an organization says it will do and how it actually behaves day to day.
In this conversation with Michael D. Levitt of Breakfast Leadership Network, Dr. Harkema explains why strategic drift is rarely dramatic, what the SOI™ measures, and how the three-part framework of think, listen, and act exposes exactly where execution breaks down inside even well-run organizations.
Key Topics Covered Why strategy fails quietly. Strategic failure begins with small, easy-to-dismiss signals: the same decision recycled through multiple meetings, departments generating friction, customers noting a decline in responsiveness, or competitors gaining ground one step at a time. Individually, none of those signals is a crisis.
Collectively, they signal drift, and organizations that catch the pattern early are the ones that survive disruption. The Monday Morning Test. If employee behaviors have not changed by Monday morning following a Friday strategy rollout, you have produced a plan, not an executable strategy. Strategy must live in decisions and priorities, not slide decks and town hall speeches.
The Strategic Orientation Index (SOI™). The SOI™ evaluates three dimensions: how an organization thinks, listens, and acts. Most organizations are strong in one or two areas and significantly weaker in the third.
Dr. Harkema shares a case study of an Innovation-focused company with excellent thinking and acting but almost no process for collecting customer insight before making product decisions. The diagnosis was not an innovation problem. It was a listening problem. The Ford Taurus lesson. When Ford abandoned the Taurus, then the number one selling car in the world, for the retro Ford 500 name, the sales collapse was predictable and preventable.
The organization thought carefully and acted decisively. It did not listen. The Taurus name was eventually restored, but the market position never recovered. Listening is not a soft skill. It is a strategic competency.
Notable Quotes:
“If your employees’ behaviors don’t change on Monday morning for a strategy that you rolled out on Friday, you have a plan, not an executable strategy.” – Dr. Kyle Harkema “Strategy lives in behavior. It has to.” – Dr. Kyle Harkema “When organizations aren’t living and breathing the strategic plan, it limits the impact they cause.” – Michael D. Levitt, Breakfast Leadership Network
