Posts by Erin Sedor
Strategy Execution Failure: Why AI Only Accelerates Your Strategy Problem
By Erin Sedor | Black Fox Strategy There’s a moment in every failing strategy when the cracks stop being subtle. For most organizations, that moment used to arrive slowly. A missed quarter. A key hire who doesn’t stick. A board meeting where the numbers tell one story and the room tells another. You could live…
Read MoreStrategic Blind Spots: The Intelligence Failures Nobody Talks About
By Erin Sedor | Black Fox Strategy Here’s a number that should keep every CEO up at night: executives report feeling 82% aligned with their company’s strategy. Actual measured alignment? 23%. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a fourfold gap between what leaders believe is true and what’s actually happening inside their organization. And here’s…
Read MoreThe Strategic Planning Process Isn’t About Planning. Here’s What It Really Is.
By Erin Sedor | Black Fox Strategy A CEO slides a binder across the table. It’s thick. Professional. Color-coded tabs, executive summary up front, appendices in the back. She tells me about the retreat that produced it — three days offsite, a facilitator they liked, good energy in the room. The team left feeling…
Read MoreThe Equilibrium Rule: A Strategic Priority Management Framework for CEOs
By Erin Sedor | Black Fox Strategy Let me describe a conversation I’ve had dozens of times. A CEO sits across from me describing what they are looking for in strategic planning. They tell me about the vision, their amazing team, and the people they are passionate about leading. I ask the only question that…
Read MoreAgentic AI and the CEO: Why Your Strategy Framework Matters More Than Your Tech Stack
By Erin Sedor | Black Fox Strategy Everyone is selling you AI right now. Your inbox is full of it. Vendors are lining up with demos. Your board wants to know your AI strategy. Your CIO has a shortlist. A well-meaning consultant is telling you that agentic AI—autonomous systems that don’t just recommend actions but…
Read MoreThe Essential Strategy Formula: Why Purpose, Growth, and Evolution in Equilibrium Changes Everything
By Erin Sedor | Black Fox Strategy Here’s something I’ve never been able to square. We have more strategy tools, frameworks, methodologies, and consulting firms than at any other point in business history. The sheer volume of resources dedicated to helping organizations plan their futures is staggering. And yet, according to research from Kaplan and…
Read MoreThe Growth Paradox: What You’re Not Building Is Eating Away at Your Strategy
By Erin Sedor | Black Fox Strategy Every CEO knows what growth looks like on the outside. Market expansion. New revenue streams. Customer acquisition. Headcount. These are the numbers that get celebrated in board meetings and reported in press releases. And they should be—external growth is the visible proof that an organization is gaining ground.…
Read MoreStrategic Risk Intelligence: The Missing Link Between ERM & Strategy
By Erin Sedor | Black Fox Strategy Your risk team knows things about your organization that nobody else does. They know where the operational cracks are forming. They know which dependencies are fragile. They know which processes are held together by one person’s institutional knowledge and a spreadsheet that hasn’t been updated since 2022. They…
Read MoreThe Boiling Frog: How Undefined Risk Appetite Quietly Kills Strategic Agility
By Erin Sedor | Black Fox Strategy You know the story. Drop a frog into boiling water and it jumps out immediately. But place that same frog in tepid water and slowly raise the temperature, and it stays put. It acclimates. It adjusts. It tells itself the water is fine. Until it isn’t. I use…
Read MoreThe Boiling Frog: How Undefined Risk Appetite Quietly Kills Strategic Agility
You know the story. Drop a frog into boiling water and it jumps out immediately. But place that same frog in tepid water and slowly raise the temperature, and it stays put. It acclimates. It adjusts. It tells itself the water is fine. Until it isn’t. I use this analogy a lot in my work…
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