AI Burnout Isn’t About Tech It’s About Pace
You don’t fail because you don’t have a plan. You fail when the plan sits unopened, unlived, unseen.
I once sat in a board meeting where the CEO confessed: “We have the perfect plan, but the team never asked me again what it meant.” That silence speaks louder than any slide deck. Strategy without execution is a theatre of intentions.
Execution fails for many reasons, but three root causes keep rising to the surface: lack of alignment, mindset mismatch, and capability gaps. BTS calls this formula E = A × M × C (Execution = Alignment × Mindset × Capability). (BTS)
It means that even the sharpest strategy collapses when the people who must carry it aren’t aligned, don’t believe, or don’t have the skills.
Deep dive: The three execution levers
- Alignment - Everyone must see where the organization is going, why it matters, and their unique role in it. When alignment is weak, you’ll see duplication, finger-pointing, and drift.
- Mindset - Beliefs, narratives, attitudes they shape action more than process ever will. A team that says "that’s not our job" or "we tried that before" is silently resisting.
- Capability - Execution demands tools, habits, language, training. No matter how well aligned or motivated, without capability the best ideas fail at first mile.
A reflection
“The gap between knowing and doing is often built on the foundations of unspoken assumptions and untended skills.”
I’ve seen teams reframe their entire execution when they stop optimizing for outputs and start cultivating shared language, decision hygiene, and feedback loops.
Prompt / question for you
Where in your organisation do you see alignment breaking down – meetings, priorities, or team handoffs? Take one moment this week to map that point of friction.
Conclusion / take-away
Execution isn’t a late stage hygiene question. It must be designed into your strategy from day one. The real work of leadership lies in translating vision into behaviour, and behaviour into momentum.
Conclusion / take-away
- “Strategy Execution & Business Transformation” – BTS (BTS)
- “Successful strategy execution = alignment + mindset + capability” (Consultancy.eu)
