Your strategy isn’t the problem
February 02, 2026
Why organisations fail in a volatile world and why clear context is the new competitive advantage
Something is happening to organisations globally that is paralysing adaptability, destroying agility, and undermining confidence and drive in teams.
It’s crisis with multiple symptoms and a confusion of outputs. So, the true cause is easily missed. And it’s a cause most Exec Teams don’t recognise or wish to accept.
But there is one primary cause; we’re in the midst of a clarity crisis.
It’s destroying business value and leaching joy. Burning cash and burning talent.
At Contexis, we measure performance and risk cultures for organisations in 60 countries. And we see it in the data globally; whether from US professional services to UK financials, UAE tech to Asian pension funds.
At a time when organisations need to move faster than ever, exactly the opposite is happening. It’s partly why 85% of AI programmes will fail this year (BCG) and 70% of change programmes fail to achieve their objectives (McK).
Clarity is not about more numbers. Data isn’t the answer. It’s the context - what makes sense of that data - that is.
Context isn’t about strategy. The reason Leaders don’t recognise there’s a clarity crisis is because they feel clear on their strategy. And they may even be right.
But strategy isn’t the problem. Even if it’s communicated.
What is missing, at a time of overwhelming change, is the clarifying story and idea that makes sense of the strategy for people. It’s the strategic context that’s missing.
In the absence of that strategic context people struggle to process content and prioritise action. Because when people are overwhelmed - by change, by information, by AI - when people are confused and fearful, they don’t need more ‘what’. They need some ‘why’.
Without it, organisations stagnate - when they need to move fast.
What is worse, confusion leads to distrust. And distrust kills momentum.
And here’s an interesting thing about trust. We’re not seeing much distrust of team or immediate manager in organisations globally. But deep distrust of leadership. It’s not the working culture that is driving distrust. It’s the lack of clarity and context - the story of why - from the top.
Of all the dozens of performance metrics we track for our clients, just two account for 50% of all agility outcomes across organisations. Which two? Clarity and Trust. On average, a 10% increase in these variables results in an 8% increase in actual executional velocity.
We’re not alone in seeing this. In a meta-analysis of 2000 teams, McKinsey found the most agile teams delivered 30% higher performance efficiency. And agility is determined by a team’s clarity of direction; trust in leaders; and processes that enable decision-making. Jeff Bezos’s ‘High Velocity Decision Model’ concurs, defining three essential conditions: clear direction, high trust, and low decision friction environment.
I look at charts every day that show teams that feel they know where the organisation is going (and why) flash green on every performance metric. And teams that feel confused red on every number. That can be a 50% or 60% difference in performance. And not just things you’d expect like decision quality, goal clarity or adaptability but on psychological safety, anxiety, personal meaning, isolation and burnout. Because clarity also underpins resilience.
It’s truism that people seek meaning. It’s a truth that, in a time of upheaval and change, people crave clarity and certainty.
As Alan Murray, CEO of Forbes told me recently, looking across all the CEOs he interviews, the inescapable conclusion is that the best Leaders “create value [by] getting people to work together in a collaborative and effective way and not be pulling in 20 different directions.”
Good leadership today is not about setting strategy. It is about telling the story of where we are going and why. It is about setting the context to lance the fear and confusion and make sense of the bewilderment of content. About helping people navigate uncertainty with clarity.
Something is happening to organisations globally that is paralysing adaptability, destroying agility, and undermining confidence and drive in teams.
It’s crisis with multiple symptoms and a confusion of outputs. So, the true cause is easily missed. And it’s a cause most Exec Teams don’t recognise or wish to accept.
Burning cash and burning talent
But there is one primary cause; we’re in the midst of a clarity crisis.
It’s destroying business value and leaching joy. Burning cash and burning talent.
At Contexis, we measure performance and risk cultures for organisations in 60 countries. And we see it in the data globally; whether from US professional services to UK financials, UAE tech to Asian pension funds.
At a time when organisations need to move faster than ever, exactly the opposite is happening. It’s partly why 85% of AI programmes will fail this year (BCG) and 70% of change programmes fail to achieve their objectives (McK).
We’ve never had so much data. And never felt more lost.
Clarity is not about more numbers. Data isn’t the answer. It’s the context - what makes sense of that data - that is.
Context isn’t about strategy. The reason Leaders don’t recognise there’s a clarity crisis is because they feel clear on their strategy. And they may even be right.
But strategy isn’t the problem. Even if it’s communicated.
What is missing, at a time of overwhelming change, is the clarifying story and idea that makes sense of the strategy for people. It’s the strategic context that’s missing.
A lack of clarity and context from the top
In the absence of that strategic context people struggle to process content and prioritise action. Because when people are overwhelmed - by change, by information, by AI - when people are confused and fearful, they don’t need more ‘what’. They need some ‘why’.
Without it, organisations stagnate - when they need to move fast.
What is worse, confusion leads to distrust. And distrust kills momentum.
And here’s an interesting thing about trust. We’re not seeing much distrust of team or immediate manager in organisations globally. But deep distrust of leadership. It’s not the working culture that is driving distrust. It’s the lack of clarity and context - the story of why - from the top.
Clarity doesn’t just lead to speed, it underpins resilience
Of all the dozens of performance metrics we track for our clients, just two account for 50% of all agility outcomes across organisations. Which two? Clarity and Trust. On average, a 10% increase in these variables results in an 8% increase in actual executional velocity.
We’re not alone in seeing this. In a meta-analysis of 2000 teams, McKinsey found the most agile teams delivered 30% higher performance efficiency. And agility is determined by a team’s clarity of direction; trust in leaders; and processes that enable decision-making. Jeff Bezos’s ‘High Velocity Decision Model’ concurs, defining three essential conditions: clear direction, high trust, and low decision friction environment.
In a time of upheaval and change, people crave clarity and certainty
I look at charts every day that show teams that feel they know where the organisation is going (and why) flash green on every performance metric. And teams that feel confused red on every number. That can be a 50% or 60% difference in performance. And not just things you’d expect like decision quality, goal clarity or adaptability but on psychological safety, anxiety, personal meaning, isolation and burnout. Because clarity also underpins resilience.
It’s truism that people seek meaning. It’s a truth that, in a time of upheaval and change, people crave clarity and certainty.
As Alan Murray, CEO of Forbes told me recently, looking across all the CEOs he interviews, the inescapable conclusion is that the best Leaders “create value [by] getting people to work together in a collaborative and effective way and not be pulling in 20 different directions.”
Good leadership today is not about setting strategy. It is about telling the story of where we are going and why. It is about setting the context to lance the fear and confusion and make sense of the bewilderment of content. About helping people navigate uncertainty with clarity.
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