Ep 33 – From Laundry-list, Wishlist or Checklist to a Game-Changing Strategy

Picture two teams in your company, six months apart. The first team is drowning. They have 47 “strategic initiatives” on their list, no clear way to prioritize, and every meeting devolves into debates about resources. Morale is terrible, and nobody can articulate what they’re really trying to accomplish. Fast forward six months: the same team, but now they’re energized, focused, and can explain their strategy in three minutes. Projects that don’t serve their core hypothesis get killed quickly. They’re making contingency plans because they understand their strategy is a bet, not a certainty. What happened in between? They stopped confusing a strategic plan with actual strategy. Today, I want to walk you through that transformation, because the gap between these two states isn’t about working harder—it’s about thinking differently. Tune into this episode to join me in tackling this wicked problem. I’m Francis Wade and welcome to the JumpLeap Long-Term Strategy Podcast Here is a video of the full episode. You can also follow the podcast on YouTube. Show Notes NotebookLM link https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/6e0f6686-25ff-44b8-a629-54df92dbef7c?authuser=1 Link to Fictional Credit Union Case https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/33364888-4e5a-4738-80d1-24f2c42c66cd?authuser=1 Roger Martin’s Video This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com/subscribeThe post Ep 33 – From Laundry-list, Wishlist or Checklist to a Game-Changing Strategy first appeared on Long-Term Strategic Planning Conference 2026.