In today's world of rapid change — driven by the low-carbon transition, new technologies, and shifting societal trends — business strategies face unprecedented complexity. So how confident are you in your strategy's ability to handle the unexpected?
Four key "buts" to help you test the resilience of your strategy:
1️⃣ But If — What if one of your key assumptions turns out to be wrong? Have you tested your strategy against the scenarios where your most important bets don't play out as expected?
2️⃣ If But — If you were starting with a blank sheet of paper today, knowing everything you now know, would you make the same strategic choices? If not, what would you do differently — and why haven't you done it yet?
3️⃣ But For — But for the efforts of your team and the decisions of leadership, what would this strategy actually deliver? Are you clear about which parts of your plan are dependent on external factors you cannot control?
4️⃣ The Big But — What is the single biggest risk to your strategy succeeding? Is there a fundamental assumption, dependency, or vulnerability you've been avoiding looking at squarely?
These four questions won't give you the answers. But they'll tell you whether your strategy is genuinely stress-tested or whether it's a well-packaged description of what you're already doing.
