Why your annual plan goes stale by April
The annual plan is a 1950s artifact. It was built for an era when the environment changed slowly. The discipline that replaces it is continuous, not episodic — and the technology to run it didn't exist a decade ago.
Most companies have plans. Few have positions.
Messaging describes. Positioning differentiates. The strategic commitment underneath the language is what creates durability — and most companies have invested in the former without doing the work of the latter.
The Coherency Loop
Leadership today is the continuous work of converting change into shared meaning. Coherence is not certainty — it's a working model that has to be rebuilt as the environment shifts.