Most strategies fail long before execution. They fail because nobody outside the leadership team can say what they are.

The two-minute test

Ask five people at random to explain what the company is doing this year and what it is not doing. If the answers do not match, you do not have a strategy yet - you have a document.

A strategy is a short list of choices, written so plainly that anyone can repeat it.

How to write one

Keep it to two pages. Name three to five priorities, the reason for each, and what you are choosing not to do. Then read it out loud at the all-hands and ask for questions.