Culture shapes how people think, feel, and act when planning, aligning efforts, and executing strategy. The fact is, if you ignore the cognitive and emotional aspects during planning and fail to define the high-impact behaviours that drive execution, you’re taking a major risk—cognitive and emotional barriers will make hard choices even harder, and without behavioural alignment, even the best strategy will struggle to take off.

So, what do CEOs and their teams need to know and consider about culture while planning a new strategy?

1. Market & Context – Where do we play? “What are the key market dynamics, competitive forces, and internal realities?”

• Cognitive: Do we truly understand our organisation’s real capacity for change? Are we seeing our competitive landscape clearly, or through internal biases?
• Emotional: How do people feel about change—excited, uncertain, or resistant? What past experiences shape this?
• Behavioural: Are we adaptive and proactive, or do we wait until change is forced upon us? How does leadership model adaptability?

2. Strategic Direction – Where are we going? “What’s the vision—our ultimate destination? What’s our strategic intent—our core ambition?”

• Cognitive: Is the vision clear and credible, given our current culture?
• Emotional: Do people believe in this direction, or does it feel disconnected from reality?
• Behavioural: Do we have leadership habits that reinforce or contradict this direction?

3. Focus Areas – What are our priorities? “Innovation, Customer Experience, Operational Efficiency, etc.”

• Cognitive: Are these priorities aligned with how we actually work, or do they demand a culture shift?
• Emotional: Is there buy-in, or do these priorities create silent resistance?
• Behavioural: Do teams naturally align with these priorities, or will they need new ways of working?

4. Strategic Objectives – What must we achieve?

• Cognitive: Are objectives realistic given our current cultural strengths and gaps?
• Emotional: Will these objectives energise or overwhelm teams?
• Behavioural: Do we have the discipline and execution mindset to translate objectives into action?

5. Key Initiatives – What major actions will get us there?

• Cognitive: Are these initiatives feasible given our culture, or do they require deep cultural change?
• Emotional: Do people feel ownership, or will they resist?
• Behavioural: Do we have the habits, skills, and leadership style to sustain execution?

5. KPIs & Metrics – How do we measure progress?

• Cognitive: Are we measuring behaviours that drive execution, or just business outcomes?
• Emotional: Do our metrics create motivation or fear?
• Behavioural: Do leaders and teams adjust based on insights, or ignore what they don’t like?

6. Behaviours – What will drive execution?

• Cognitive: Do we know which leadership and team behaviours will make or break execution?
• Emotional: Do people believe these behaviours are necessary and valuable?
• Behavioural: Are these behaviours reinforced daily, or do they collapse under pressure?

A well-planned strategy is free from past baggage and built for execution—hope this list helps.