How to translate a strategy from PowerPoint to reality

One of the first things I learned in consulting is that a strategy is only as strong as its weakest implementation. I’ve seen brilliant decks - polished, persuasive, full of vision - crash into the wall of daily operations with surprising speed. Why? Because turning a strategy into reality is not a single step. It’s a messy, human process full of conversations, misunderstandings, resistance, rewrites, and re-explanations.

The truth is, the moment a strategy leaves the executive floor, it starts to fragment. People interpret it through their own lenses, roles, and fears. And unless you actively translate it into their world - their incentives, their language, their workflows - it never fully lands. In fact, it might look like it’s working on the surface, while quietly failing underneath.

Over the past decade, I’ve seen this pattern again and again. And in this piece, I want to share how I’ve learned to spot the warning signs early, what practical steps I use to close the gap, and why strategy translation might just be the most important - and overlooked - leadership skill we never name.