Why Strategies Collapse: New Leadership Book Challenges Organisations’ Corporate Culture

The Reporter — CEO Interview with Akin Monehin

In this conversation, The Reporter speaks with transformation executive and author Akin Monehin about his new book, Execution Is a Lie, and why many organisational strategies fail long before implementation begins.

The Reporter: Your book argues that strategies often collapse because of deeper cultural and structural issues. Why do you think organisations continue to struggle with execution?

Akin Monehin: Most organisations inherit their execution failures long before the first milestone. Strategy collapses because the internal architecture is weak: systems are inconsistent, leadership signals conflict with stated priorities, and accountability is unevenly distributed. When the environment becomes volatile, these hidden weaknesses surface quickly. Organisations tend to blame people, but the real problem is structural. Culture is shaped by the systems leaders reinforce every day.

The Reporter: You use the phrase “execution is a lie.” What does that mean from a leadership standpoint?

Akin Monehin: It describes a gap between what leaders say and what the organisation is engineered to do. Many institutions speak confidently about strategy, but the underlying mechanisms — decision routines, review cadence, ownership, incentives — do not support delivery. In other words, institutions sometimes commit to outcomes their internal design cannot sustain. The lie is unintentional, but it is real.

The Reporter: Where do leaders typically underestimate the challenge?

Akin Monehin: Three areas:

1. Systems of work — clarity, role linkages, performance rhythm.
2. Signals — the daily messages leaders send through decisions, exceptions, tone and priorities.
3. Skin in the game — real ownership; not ceremonial, but structural.

Most leaders focus on strategy formulation. Few engage with the machinery beneath it. Execution suffers when that machinery is weak.

The Reporter: Some CEOs say their teams understand the strategy but still fail to execute. What do you observe in such situations?

Akin Monehin: Understanding is not execution. Teams can recite strategy but operate in a system that contradicts it.
For example:

• KPIs are set, but consequences are optional.
• Priorities shift weekly without structural alignment.
• Reviews focus on activity, not progress.
• Leaders make exceptions that undermine discipline.

When the organisation’s lived reality contradicts the strategy, execution deteriorates — quietly at first, then visibly.

The Reporter: How can leaders diagnose whether their organisations are structurally aligned for execution?

Akin Monehin: They should ask three questions:

1. Can every unit link their work to the top three organisational priorities?
2. Do leaders’ daily decisions reinforce or dilute strategic intent?
3. Is ownership distributed in a way that makes delivery unavoidable?

If any answer is unclear, the organisation has an execution problem — not a motivation problem.

The Reporter: Your book has generated strong conversation among executives. What explains this traction?

Akin Monehin: Leaders are beginning to recognise that effort is not the issue. Their people are working hard. Yet results remain inconsistent. The book speaks to that frustration by identifying the mechanisms — not the slogans — that shape performance. It resonates because it reflects what leaders already see: strategy is not fragile, but institutions are. What fails is the architecture.

The Reporter: What is the one message you hope CEOs take away from the book?

Akin Monehin: That execution is engineered. If leaders don’t intentionally build the systems, signals and accountability required to sustain performance, the organisation will default to drift — regardless of talent or ambition. Execution is not the last phase of strategy. It is the operating system beneath it.