I was just reading The Power of Strategic Fit in Harvard Business Review, and it underscores a familiar challenge in transformation: when strategy components operate in silos, they yield average outcomes. Working together in sync, they lead to exponential value.
The article outlines seven essential elements of organizational strategy that must align: mental model, purpose, stakeholder value, response to macro forces, market focus, competitive advantages, and operating model.
Similar to the Five-by-Five model, this framework shows how individual components become exponentially more powerful when they reinforce each other.
Why “Spreadsheet Strategy” Fails
The problem is that too many firms fall into what the authors call “spreadsheet strategies”, setting financial targets first and hoping alignment follows afterward. This backwards approach creates the exact opposite of strategic fit.
Instead of synergy, silos emerge. Instead of engagement, burnout takes hold. Instead of sustainable transformation, initiatives check boxes but fail to deliver long-term results.
The Multiplier Effect in Action
Companies that get this right create “beneficial multiplier effects”, a self-reinforcing system where engaged employees develop innovative products, enthusiastic customers attract more customers, and stronger financial performance funds better benefits and community contributions.
The research confirms that achieving strategic fit leads to superior shareholder returns, resilient cultures, and competitive advantages that are nearly impossible for competitors to replicate.
That’s the goal: strategy and execution working as one unified engine.