Right now, leadership teams everywhere are doing the same thing: dusting off last year’s plans, tweaking a few numbers, and calling it a strategy. It feels safe. It feels like responsible management.
But it’s actually a trap.
Most companies are just extending what they did last year. The problem? The world doesn’t look like last year anymore. Prices are weird, technology is moving too fast, and “good enough” performance is now a failing grade.
This is the Strategic Stress Test.
It isn’t about looking back at the past; it’s about checking if you can build or survive the future. The winners won’t be the companies with the thickest PowerPoint decks. They will be the ones who can make hard decisions quickly.
Here is how to test your strategy to see if it’s tough enough for the current market.
1. The Reality Check
Don’t Bet the House on One Prediction
Every business plan is built on guesses. You guess what interest rates will do, what customers will pay, and how much hiring will cost. The danger isn’t making guesses—it’s treating those guesses like facts.
The economy is confusing right now. Signals are mixed. If your plan only works if everything goes perfectly back to “normal,” you are fragile.
The Test:
- Which of our assumptions are just leftovers from last year?
- If inflation or rates stay high, does our plan break?
- Are we planning for what is happening, or just what we hope will happen?
2. The Waiting Game
Don’t Wait for Perfect News
Leaders often fall into a ‘wait-and-see’ trap. They wait for customer demand to rebound, competitors to show their hand, political dust to settle, or the Federal Reserve to cut rates.
But waiting is a losing strategy. By the time the news is clear, your competitors have already moved. You need to read the market, not just the headlines.
The Test:
- What decisions are we putting off because we want “certainty”?
- If we are wrong about the government or the economy, what will we regret?
- Are we moving forward, or are we paralyzed?
3. The Cost Trap
Cutting Fat vs. Cutting Muscle
Costs have gone up, and they likely aren’t coming down. That’s the new reality.
The knee-jerk reaction is to slash everything: freeze hiring, cut travel, squeeze vendors. That works for three months, but it hurts you in three years. You need to stop spending on things that don’t matter so you can spend more on the things that do.
The Test:
- Are we cutting costs that actually make us special?
- Are we keeping expenses just because “we’ve always paid for that”?
- Is our cost-cutting a panic move, or a smart design?
4. The AI Rush
It’s an Enabler, Not a Magic Wand
AI isn’t an experiment anymore; it’s everywhere. The risk isn’t that you won’t use AI. The risk is that you’ll use it in messy, disconnected ways that make things louder, not better.
AI makes things faster, but speed without strategic direction is just a faster way to crash.
The Test:
- Does our AI actually help us make better decisions, or is it just a shiny toy?
- Is AI actually making our product better for the customer, or just cheaper for us?
- Are we just buying software, or are we changing how we work?
5. Real Growth vs. Fake Growth
Demand vs. Hope
Everyone wants to grow. But some growth is real (customers buying more) and some is fake (internal optimism).
You have to be ruthless. You need to know which parts of your business are actually growing, and which parts are slowly dying. You need the courage to stop feeding the dying parts.
The Test:
- Is our growth forecast based on real data or just hope?
- Do we have the skills to actually pull off this growth?
- What old products are dying that we are afraid to kill?
6. The World Stage
You Can’t Hide from Risk
Supply chains built only for “cheapest price” are dangerous now. Wars, tariffs, and trade fights can shut you down overnight.
You can’t be safe from everything, but you shouldn’t be blind to it. The goal isn’t total safety; it’s making sure one bad event doesn’t kill the company.
The Test:
- Where are we most exposed to international trouble?
- If a major supply chain breaks tomorrow, do we have a Plan B?
- Are we trading too much safety for a slightly lower price?
7. Your People
Can They Handle the Speed?
Strategies don’t fail because the math is wrong. They fail because people are confused. If your team is overwhelmed, lacks skills, or doesn’t know who is in charge, the best plan in the world won’t save you.
You can’t have a robust strategy with a siloed and slow team.
The Test:
- Does the team know why we are doing this?
- Is it clear who makes the final call on decisions?
- Is our structure helping us move fast, or slowing us down?
8. Spending Money
Kill the Zombie Projects
Money is tighter now. The most dangerous things in your budget are “zombie projects”—projects that are alive just because no one has the heart to kill them.
You need to stop funding “good” ideas so you can fund “great” ones. This requires saying “no” to things people like.
The Test:
- Are we funding this because it’s important, or just because it’s already there?
- If our budget got cut by 20% today, what would we save?
- How fast can we move money to a new opportunity?
The Bottom Line: Stop Planning, Start Living Strategy
The last part of the test isn’t about the market—it’s about you.
Most strategies fail because leaders treat them like a document to file away. But a real strategy is a living thing. It’s a platform for making decisions.
Great leaders don’t just stick to the plan no matter what. They pay attention. They are honest about what isn’t working. And they aren’t afraid to change course when the facts change.
The Final Questions:
- Focus: Are we doing too many things poorly, instead of a few things well?
- Honesty: Are we defending our old ideas, or looking for the truth?
- Action: When we see a problem, do we act, or do we schedule another meeting?
| The era of the “5-Year Plan” is dead. This is the beginning of Living Strategy. |
Execution isn’t the problem. Priorities are. 