The $438 Billion Blind Spot in Strategy Definition

This is part of a series written by Sarah Garver, PhD, Manager, Insights and Strategy Activation, focused on the topic of Strategy Activation through behavioral change.

Part One: What If We Activated Strategy Like We Activate Brands?
Part Two:  Can I Get a Refund? The Invisible Strategy Tax

Let’s go back to the invisible strategy tax – the $438 billion figure that Gallup¹ says is leaking out of our organizations due to team ineffectiveness.

It’s worth asking – what does this have to do with an externally facing market strategy?

Well, you’ve probably seen the statistics.

• Up to 90% of executives admit strategy failure due to implementation problems. ^2,3
• Seventy percent of strategies fail due to insufficient buy-in, capability, and misaligned ways of working. ^4,5
• Sixty-seven percent of the time, middle managers cite lack of clear ownership and decision clarity as the reasons for a failed change initiative. ⁶
• On average, strategies achieve only about 60% of the promised financial performance. ^7,8

That strategy tax – the strategy execution problem – is lost in millions of small decision moments.

Today decisions are dictated by the mindsets, behaviors, and routines that feel most safe, rewarded, and reinforced.

Tomorrow, your marketplace strategy requires a new mental model. Innovation over standardization, collaboration over silos, critical thinking over command and control, and flexibility over process.

The problem is, we have a behavior definition blind spot. The Employee Strategy Playbook is, in fact, implicit. We define strategies, develop extensive plans to communicate them, and manage change. But we stop short of identifying (much less communicating) the behavior shifts required of our organization internally for our external strategy to succeed.

The result?

Only 5%‒10% know how to connect strategy to their role. ^9,10

While leaders are championing a differentiated customer experience, launching new products, or going after new markets, employees are doing the mental gymnastics of “What does this actually mean for me?”

Strategy remains a plan to communicate. Not a movement to mobilize.

And so, the status quo continues come Monday morning.

But that 5%‒10% can be higher. When using our core methodologies, it’s not uncommon to see 87% or even 90% of people say they are prepared to apply the new strategy in their role.

Most strategies don’t fail because they’re wrong. They fail because organizations underestimate and fail to define the decisions, tradeoffs, and behaviors that must change. Instead, they leave those decisions to environments that still reward the old way of working.

So, two questions.

1. Have you defined the internal behaviors that your external strategy requires?
2. Are you ready to mobilize your strategy, not just communicate it?

If the answer to either of those is yes, we can help. And we’ve got proven methods to do it. Stay tuned.

Citations:
¹ Gallup, Inc. (2025). State of the global workplace 2025: Understanding employees, informing leaders. Gallup Press.
² Economist Intelligence Unit. (2017). Closing the gap: Designing and delivering a strategy that works. Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by the Brightline Initiative. [brightline.org]
³ Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2001). The strategy-focused organization: How balanced scorecard companies thrive in the new business environment. Harvard Business School Press. [brightline.org]
⁴ McKinsey & Company. (n.d.). Perspectives on transformation: Why do most transformations fail? McKinsey & Company. [mckinsey.com]
⁵ McKinsey & Company. (2019). Why do most transformations fail? A conversation with Harry Robinson. McKinsey & Company. [hbr.org]
⁶ Ornstein, C. (2025). Why change fails: The 67% breakdown no one talks about (and how to fix it). LinkedIn. [linkedin.com]
⁷ Mankins, M. C., & Steele, R. (2005). Turning great strategy into great performance. Harvard Business Review, 83(7), 64–72. [pubmed.ncb…lm.nih.gov], [hbr.org]
⁸ Economist Intelligence Unit. (2005). Closing the strategy‑to‑performance gap. Economist Intelligence Unit, on behalf of Marakon Associates. [cfo.com]
⁹ Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2000). Having trouble with your strategy? Then map it. Harvard Business Review, 78(5), 167–176.
¹⁰ Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2001). The strategy‑focused organization: How balanced scorecard companies thrive in the new business environment. Harvard Business School Press.