I met a CEO who had written an excellent strategy.
New markets. New products. Investment in AI. The company was going to become digital and global.
Six months later, nothing had changed. Not because the strategy was bad. But because the organization wasn't ready. The culture didn't support it. The management team wasn't aligned. And fundamentally—nobody really understood why they were supposed to do it.
He had worked on layer 1. But not on layers 2–6.
What is the Strategy House?
The Strategy House is a framework with six layers that must work together. Not sequentially, not as a checklist. Like a building—if one wall is broken, the whole structure fails.
Layer 1: The Business Model
The foundation. What do you do? Who buys? How do you make money?
Your business model consists of:
- Customer segments — which people or companies pay you?
- Value proposition — what do they get when they pay?
- Channels — how do you reach them?
- Revenue streams — how do you make money? License? One-time purchase? Subscription?
- Cost structure — what's expensive?
- Partners — who helps you?
Most companies think they have this nailed. The ones who do know it's under 50% of the reality.
Layer 2: The Context
The world around you. Everything you can't control but affects you.
- Market — who's buying? Is it growing or shrinking?
- Competition — who's attacking? Who could attack?
- Technology — what's changing? Is anything making your products obsolete?
- Regulation — what's mandatory? What's becoming mandatory?
- Society — what do customers want to be part of? ESG? Sustainability?
Layer 2 asks: where is the world heading, and where do we stand in relation to it?
Layer 3: The Culture
Your most important competitive advantage that nobody talks about.
Culture is about:
- Values — what matters here? Honesty? Speed? Solidarity?
- Norms — how do we behave when nobody's watching? Are we on time? Do we say what we mean?
- Capabilities — what are we naturally good at? What do we struggle with?
- Attraction — who wants to work here? Who leaves?
You can have the world's best strategy. If your people don't share the values, or if the culture says "we do things the way we've always done them," your strategy dies on day 40.
I knew a digitalization director at an industrial company. He was supposed to move the company to cloud and AI. Excellent plans. But the culture said "we operate the way we always have, and it's worked." Result: strategy on paper, culture in reality.
Layer 4: The Leadership Room
Who decides what? And can they actually decide?
The Leadership Room consists of four actor groups:
- The owner — what does the owner want out of this? What's at risk?
- The board — what should the board focus on? Control? Development? Networks?
- Leadership — what leadership style do we need? Authoritarian? Delegating?
- Management team — is there alignment here? Are they equipped to execute?
Without clarity here, strategy becomes political. Some people are on one side and others on another. And nothing moves.
A factory director told me his board chair wanted to transform into automation (low cost, high risk), but half the ownership group wanted to invest in craftsmanship (high quality, traditional). The strategy became therefore softer than it could be. And competitors passed him on both flanks.
Layer 5: The Lenses
How do you see the world? From which angle?
There are 16 strategic lenses. Each lens sees something—and forgets something.
- SWOT — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
- Digital — where are we digitally?
- Competition — who must we beat?
- Profitability — where do we make money?
- Innovation — what's new?
- ESG — environment, social responsibility, governance
- Compliance — what's mandatory?
If you only look through the competition lens you say "we must be cheapest." If you look through the capability lens you say "we must be best at service." If you look through the innovation lens you say "we must be first to market."
All three are right. But they lead to different strategies.
The best leaders I know shift between five or six lenses when they think. The others get stuck in one.
Layer 6: The Motivation
Why are we actually doing this?
Motivation is about:
- Owner motivation — what drives the owner? Money? Legacy? Change?
- Purpose — what should the company be for? Just profit? Or something bigger?
- Ambition — how high are our dreams? Is it okay to be number three? Must we be first?
Every transformation needs motivation behind it. Otherwise it's just work. When there's real motivation—when people see why—then it's an adventure.
A service company I knew had written their strategy without talking about motivation. The result was half the employees didn't understand why they should do it all again. They were tired. What they needed to hear was that this is also about being independent of bank loans. Or that we want to be a place where it's fun to work. Something human.
Quick diagnostic: Where are you strong?
Here's a fast test. Where are your layers strong? Where are they weak?
Rate each layer from 1-10. Honestly.
1. Business Model — Does everyone know what makes money? 2. Context — Do you know where the market is heading? 3. Culture — Are values alive or on a poster? 4. Leadership Room — Is there alignment on who decides? 5. Lenses — Do you see the world from 3+ angles or just one? 6. Motivation — Can people tell you why this matters?
If any of them score below 6, that's where things creak.
When I work with companies I find most score like this:
- Layers 1 and 2: 7–9 (we know this)
- Layer 3: 3–4 (we don't talk about culture)
- Layer 4: 4–5 (we're not sure who decides)
- Layer 5: 2–3 (we see through one lens)
- Layer 6: 1–2 (motivation? What's that?)
The result is strategy on paper says one thing, but reality does another.
How to work with the House
When you design your strategy all six layers need to be in the room from day one.
1. Start with business model and context — what do we do, who buys, what's changing in the world?
2. Immediately ask: "Can our culture follow?" — if the strategy is "we must be super agile" and the culture says "we do what we've always done," you know culture work is required.
3. Clarify the Leadership Room — who should be in the strategy? What should the board do? Is the owner ready?
4. Draw from multiple lenses — start with SWOT, but also see through the competition lens, capability lens, innovation lens.
5. End with motivation — why does this matter? What do we want to become? What's our dream?
Then: work on the weakest layer.
The CEO I mentioned at the start? He worked later with all six layers. Not in one day. Over three months. And the strategy didn't change, but he went deeper into why it would work. And then it did.
The Strategy House holds together when all layers work together.