Strategy Meets Reality Podcast Reclaiming Strategy: Mike Jones on Perception, Structure, and the Return to Coherence
Strategy isn’t a performance—it’s a practice.
In this special solo episode, host Mike Jones reflects on what 30 episodes of Strategy Meets Reality have revealed about the state of modern strategy. He explores why strategy fails first in perception, not execution, and how organisations confuse alignment with coherence, performance with action, and control with orientation.
Drawing on lessons from Boyd, Sun Tzu, and the 30+ guests who’ve shaped this journey, Mike challenges the branding-led view of strategy and calls for a return to strategy as movement—anchored in perceptual clarity, structural capability, and a shared sense of reality.
🔍 In this episode:
- Why strategy fails in the boardroom, not the field
- The perceptual complexity behind strategic failure
- How structural inertia widens the decision-to-action gap
- Why coherence beats alignment in turbulent environments
- The role of freedom of action in resilient execution
- How we lost the art of manoeuvre—and how to bring it back
Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/
Learn more: https://substack.com/@strategymeetsreality https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast
🎧 Keywords: Strategy, Execution, Leadership, Coherence, Perception, Structure, OODA Loop, Viability, Emergence, Strategic Orientation, Adaptive Organisations, Boyd, Sun Tzu, Viable System Model
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🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast
📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Buzzsprout
💬 Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/