About this episode

In Episode 1, “What Is Strategy?”, Stephen Bacon broke strategy down to three questions every leader has to answer. In this episode, he and Matt Bader pick up where that conversation left off: what it actually looks like to put those questions into practice, year-round, instead of answering them once and setting the plan aside. Bacon introduces the Infinity Loop, The Gunter Group’s framework for the ongoing, connected cycle of strategy creation and execution, and walks through where organizations typically get stuck on it.

WHAT WE COVER

Why strategy is a loop, not a one-time event
Bacon introduces the Infinity Loop, The Gunter Group’s framework for the ongoing, connected cycle of strategy creation and execution. Most leaders treat a planning session as the whole job; the loop is built to show it isn’t.

The creation side: planning, alignment, and communication
Bacon walks through why strategic planning has to connect up and down the organization, not just live at the top, and why a strategy has to be told as a story to actually resonate, not just delivered as a slide deck.

The execution side: resourcing, initiatives, and governance
A strategy only becomes real once the budget reflects it and initiatives are chartered and governed against it. Bacon explains why this is where strategy either takes hold or quietly falls apart.

Knowing when to revisit strategy, and who should own that process
Bacon argues strategy review should be trigger-driven, not just calendar-driven, and introduces the Office of Strategy Management as the function that facilitates the whole loop without owning the outcome itself.

Recognizing your organization’s pain point on the loop
Bacon and Matt translate the framework into plain language leaders will recognize, from strategies that aren’t landing to initiatives that feel disconnected, and map each one back to where it sits on the loop.