Many leaders jump into execution without a real strategy conversation, and the result is busy teams moving in different directions. In this article, Jef Menguin shares a simple structure for strategy conversations that clarify where to play and how to win before work begins. Read it and share it with your team so you get alignment, sharper choices, and fewer wasted efforts.
Let me ask you something simple.
If I sat quietly in your next ExCom meeting and just listened, what would I hear?
Most of the time, here’s what happens. People arrive with thick decks. One by one, they give updates. Sales reports. Operations issues. HR concerns. Finance warnings. Everyone takes their turn.
There are questions, clarifications, maybe a few “action items” at the end.
Then the meeting ends.
People go back to their departments and keep doing what they’ve always done. You covered many topics, but you didn’t really ask one crucial question:
“Are we really playing to win, or are we just trying to keep up?”
That question almost never appears on the agenda. But it’s the question that could change the entire tone of your ExCom meeting.
When ExCom Becomes a Reporting Show
I’ve lost count of how many executive meetings I’ve seen where smart people spend two hours reporting the past and almost no time shaping the future.
Everyone is busy trying not to look unprepared. Everyone is careful with words. No one wants to rock the boat.
If you look around the room, you’ll see two types of faces: those who are presenting now, and those who are rehearsing in their heads because they’re next. That means, while one person is talking, half the room is not really listening. They’re getting ready for their performance.
In that kind of meeting, strategy is a slide at the start of the year. After that, it quietly disappears.
It’s not that people don’t care. They do. But the structure of the ExCom meeting pulls them back to updates, not choices.
So the question is: how do you turn one ordinary ExCom meeting into a real strategy conversation?
Start with a Shared Mirror, Not a New Framework
Most executives don’t need another framework thrown at them.
They’ve seen SWOT, BCG, OGSM, OKRs, and more. The problem is not the lack of models. The problem is that the team rarely stops to look honestly at how they are actually playing.
That’s why I like starting with a shared mirror.
Instead of beginning your next ExCom meeting with “Updates from each unit,” imagine starting with this:
“Today, before we go into reports, let’s ask ourselves: Are we really playing to win? Or are we just busy? I’d like each of us to answer a short Strategy Audit, then we talk about what we see.”
Now the meeting has a different energy. It’s not about defending your numbers. It’s about looking at your reality.
What the Strategy Audit Tool Really Does
The Strategy Audit Tool is very simple on the surface: twenty-five statements, and you answer yes or no.
But the statements go into areas we often avoid.
They ask if your leadership team has a clear, shared idea of what “winning” means. They ask if you’ve truly decided where to play and where not to play. They ask if you have actually said no to projects and clients that don’t fit your strategy, not just talked about them. They ask if your metrics, meetings, and systems match your supposed choices.
This is why it works well in an ExCom setting: it doesn’t attack anyone personally, but it does reveal patterns.
One person may realize, “I keep adding projects, but I rarely propose dropping anything.” Another may see, “We talk about strategy at the retreat, but our weekly meetings are still just about firefighting.”
The tool doesn’t give you a grade. It gives you a mirror.
How to Use It in Your Next ExCom
You don’t need a whole day. You don’t need a hotel. You just need thirty to forty-five minutes of courage and curiosity.
Here’s one way to do it.
At the start of your next ExCom, give each member a copy of the Strategy Audit Tool. Ask them to answer it quietly. No debate yet. Just yes or no for each statement. This usually takes about ten to fifteen minutes.
Then ask everyone to count their yes answers. You don’t force anyone to reveal the exact number if they don’t want to. You’re not there to shame people. You’re there to see where you really are as a team.
Now comes the important part: the conversation.
You might say, “You’ve seen the scoring guide. You have a sense of where you think we are as an organization. Let’s talk about what you noticed.”
Then ask questions like:
“What statement was hardest for you to say yes to?” “Which part of the audit made you uncomfortable?” “Where do you think we are pretending we have a strategy, when in fact we just have a plan?”
Notice that these are not technical questions. These are leadership questions.
In that moment, your ExCom stops being a reporting committee and becomes what it should be: the group that decides how you will win.
From Numbers to Choices
Strategy is not just about hitting targets.
It’s about the choices behind those targets.
When you run the Strategy Audit in your ExCom, patterns will start to show. You may realize you have a clear budget process but no clear definition of what winning means. You may find you are strong in planning but weak in saying no. You may see that your values and your actual tradeoffs don’t match.
This insight is not meant to make anyone feel bad. Actually, it should be a relief.
Because once you see where you’re weak, you know where to focus.
Instead of trying to “fix everything,” you can say:
“In the next six months, let’s focus on getting clear about our where-to-play and how-to-win choices.”
Or:
“Let’s commit to dropping at least two major initiatives that don’t fit Our Winning Play, so we can free up time and attention.”
Or:
“Let’s change the way we run ExCom: less reporting, more discussion about whether we are living our strategy.”
Now your conversation moves from noise to direction.
Why This Conversation Matters Now
Markets are moving faster. Customers have more options. Internal demands are louder than ever. It’s easy to get sucked into survival mode.
If your ExCom doesn’t regularly ask, “Are we really playing to win?” you will slowly drift into a pattern of maintaining, defending, and reacting. You will be very busy. You might even hit some targets. But you will not be using the full power of your leadership team.
On the other hand, if your ExCom can look at the Strategy Audit results and say, “We’re not yet where we want to be, but we’re willing to face it,” that alone sets you apart.
Most teams never get that far. They stay in reporting mode forever.
A Simple Invitation for Your Next Meeting
So here’s my invitation.
At your next ExCom, before the reports and the slides and the updates, bring one different agenda item:
“Are we really playing to win?”
Use the Strategy Audit Tool to ground that question. Answer it. Read the guide. Talk about what you see. You don’t have to fix everything in one meeting. Just agree on one or two shifts you’re willing to make.
It might be as simple as, “Next quarter, our ExCom agenda will always include one strategy question, not just reports.” Or, “We will identify one project to stop, based on what we saw in the audit.”
Small, honest shifts like that compound over time.
The point is not to have a perfect score. The point is to build a leadership team that is willing to see the truth and choose how to respond.
Because in the end, playing to win is not a slogan. It’s a habit of asking better questions, in the right rooms, with the right people—starting with your ExCom.
If you’re building a business and you are playing to win…
Let’s install one shift that moves metrics.
→ Shift Experiences
