03.1
Strategy ladder
Each step is a cognitive decision. The next step waits until this one is written.
The practice publishes a plain claim: most chief executives do not treat strategy as a ladder, and a ladder only works when each step comes from a cognitive process. A session in Frankfurt starts by naming the step that is actually in front of the room, not the slogan that was prepared on the way in.
Sales, people, and the business between firms can all sit on the same ladder. They do not share one sentence. The person who holds the pencil writes what was decided, who owns it, and which step is now allowed to begin.
The ladder is the work a board or a chief executive engages. It is not a catalogue and it is not a course with a seat to buy on this page.