Strategic thinking is coming of age. In this podcast, Joel Grundy explores how strategy has help leaders make their decisions add up, be pragmatic about uncertainty, and make the most of what’s happening in reality. A practical take on using strategy well right now when the big picture for most businesses is being shaken up. Listen to the podcast below.
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Strategy that swings between long run abstracts and micro-managing will waste energy that leaders need right to judge a direction and manage risk.
In a recent episode of Strategy Meets Reality, Joel Grundy, Head of Strategy at Q5, brings the focus back to what strategy is meant to do: help leaders make a small number of tough choices in an uncertain world. Listen below:
A key theme is how easily strategy becomes disconnected from decisions. Purpose statements drift, pillars become catch-all categories, and KPIs describe outcomes without linking back to the choices that drive them. The result is activity without clarity.
Instead, Joel argues for a more grounded approach. Good strategy is not about describing everything a business does, but being clear on what it will and will not do. That means staying close to leadership, working across teams, and improving how organisations make sense of uncertainty.
Practical tools like war-gaming competitors, exploring shifting customer expectations, and keeping options open can help leaders make better decisions, even when the future is unclear.
The conversation also brings this to life through real examples, from AI as a “firework inside the business” to the different ways companies like Netflix, Disney, and Apple make strategic bets.
At its core, the role of the strategist is simple but demanding: not to provide all the answers, but to help others make better decisions, with clarity and humility.
At Q5, strategy is not about producing static plans, but helping organisations decide what they want to achieve and how to make it happen in practice. Working with leaders across sectors, we support everything from defining a clear “North Star” to aligning teams, investment, and delivery around the choices that matter most.
Explore how we help organisations make clear choices and turn strategy into real-world outcomes on our strategy page or get in touch, we’d love to chat.
Associate Partner & Head of Strategy
Strategy Meets Reality is hosted by Mike Jones and explores what it really takes to navigate complexity, lead through uncertainty, and execute strategy in practice. Each episode features honest conversations with leaders and practitioners, focused on practical insight rather than theory.
You can check out more episodes here:
