What a 17-hour flight reminded me about strategy
It hit me somewhere over the Pacific, on one of the longest flights in the world, from San Francisco to Singapore. Somewhere between the bad coffee, movie binging, and unsuccessfully trying to sleep sitting upright on a 17-hour flight, one thing kept standing out to me: Big journeys never go exactly as planned. The flight crew certainly doesn’t expect it. They are fully prepared for weather changes, mechanical issues, unexpected air traffic control delays, and an endless variety of passenger drama. Their systems are built around monitoring and recalibrating, not assuming the original plan will unfold perfectly. Yet in organizations, we often expect the opposite. We define a strategy, announce the vision, rally the team… and then act as though changing course means something must be wrong. Some even get defensive. But adapting isn’t failure. It’s a practical recognition that risk doesn’t disappear once the strategy launches. Conditions change. People react differently. New information shows up. That’s why adaptive teams matter so much. They can adjust and change without losing momentum, trust, or sight of the goal. One of the greatest benefits of building adaptive teams is this: Disruptions stop feeling like crises and start to feel like signals. Signals to pay attention, to talk openly, to adapt before small issues become major problems. Healthy teams make space for conversations like: • What are we learning? • Which assumptions may no longer be valid? • What needs to change before small issues become bigger ones? People handle uncertainty remarkably well when they are encouraged to anticipate challenges and be ready to adapt. That’s true on airplanes. And it’s true in organizations, too. So if you’re leading people toward a big new destination right now, the question isn’t: “How do we avoid disruption?” Instead, the better question may be: “Are we building a team that can quickly adapt?’’ Big ideas are not built upon “perfect” strategies. They’re built by teams that know how to adapt when disruption inevitably shows up. -—Susan P.S. If you’re wrestling with a new initiative, check out my new book, Fast Track Your Big Idea! Navigate Risk, Move People to Action, and Avoid Your Strategy Going Off Course. There are over 20+ practical tools you can apply immediately. This article is part of my “Fast Track Insights” newsletter, providing practical ideas whether you are driving a new strategy or getting one back on track. I want to help you avoid common mistakes. Subscribe to receive practical insights once or twice a month.
Two Risk Traps That Will Derail Your Strategy
Have your strategy discussions gotten off to a strong start? The energy is high. The ideas are good. But underneath the enthusiasm, there may be unspoken questions. Most teams fall into one of two traps related to risk that will derail execution of their new strategy, long before the work begins. Trap #1: The Risks NO ONE Is Talking About This trap emerges when underneath the enthusiasm lies real tension— “elephant in the room” concerns that everyone senses but no one names. People feel the risks. They sense the unknowns. However, they hesitate to raise concerns because they worry about sounding negative or being the only one who sees the issue. So the risks sit quietly, lurking in the background. Unfortunately, unspoken risks don’t disappear—they simply resurface later as delays, misalignment, budget surprises, or preventable crises. Silence quietly erodes execution. Trap #2: The Risks EVERYONE Is Talking About—but Freezes the Team But many teams today are falling into the opposite trap. Constantly talking about risks—but in a swirling, unstructured way that creates overwhelm rather than clarity. From economic downturn to AI disruption to natural disasters, the list of worries is endless. Leaders tell me: “We’re reacting instead of deciding.” • “We keep going in circles.” • “We can’t agree on what matters most.” This isn’t avoidance—it’s overwhelm. When everything feels risky, nothing moves forward with confidence. When conversations lack structure, teams get stuck in emotion instead of execution. So how DO you talk about risk in a way that builds momentum—not fear? In my new book, Fast Track Your Big Idea! Navigate Risk, Move People to Action, and Avoid Your Strategy Going Off Course, I introduce the De-Risk System for Impact®—a practical approach I use with leadership teams to bring clarity and alignment to a new strategy. The system helps you frame the building blocks of your strategy in simple, objective terms and discuss the risks — including the people side of risk — without drama, confusion, blame, or paralysis. As you discuss risks of your strategy with your own team, here are five practices I recommend you use to make these conversations more productive: 1. Agree that risk is simply “an unknown.” Every risk has potential upsides, downsides, and often both. The goal isn’t to eliminate risk—it’s to understand what you know and what you don’t yet know so you can make better decisions. 2. Identify the assumptions. When a strategy goes off track, it’s often because leaders made decisions based on assumptions that did not pan out. Yet, those assumptions were rarely spelled out. Surfacing the assumptions behind your choices prevents misalignment and unnecessary surprises. 3. Acknowledge different risk profiles. People—and organizations—evaluate risk in different ways. Two people can look at the same uncertainty and draw completely different conclusions. Recognizing that different perspectives are to be expected can open space for better dialogue. 4. Identify what you can control. The issues may spiral around you, but you don’t need to be frozen by what you can’t control. Direct your team’s attention toward actions you can take right now. 5. Clarify who needs to take NEW action—and what feels risky to THEM. Every strategy requires that someone will have to do something new—which often feels riskier. Different stakeholders experience risk differently. When you understand what feels risky to them, you can address concerns early, reduce resistance, and move the work forward faster. Bottom Line As you finalize your 2026 plans, ask yourself: Is your team falling into the trap of silence… or the trap of spiraling discussions of risk? Both traps drain momentum. Both are completely avoidable with the right framework to approach decision-making. To equip your team with the tools to navigate these conversations, visit FastTrackYourBigIdea.com and find out more about the book and get the complimentary discussion guide. You don’t need a perfect plan to be successful next year. You just need to avoid the traps that steal momentum before the work even begins. Welcome your thoughts! — Susan This article is part of my newsletter, “Fast Track Insights”, providing practical ideas whether you are driving a new strategy or getting one back on track. I want to help you avoid common mistakes. Subscribe to receive practical insights once or twice a month.