Founder perspective
Clients ask: We already set strategy — why is rollout still slow?
My answer after twenty years: strategy can be decided in a meeting; org must change habits, interests, and authority. An hour in the strategy room often needs six to twelve months on the ground.
Everyone nods in the strategy room, then diverges
Plenty of RMB 100M+ plants: strategy every year, landing never. Direction is not wrong — organizational carrying capacity lags. Middle managers wait for the owner; departments fight; scorecards do not match P&L.
I tell teams: organizational power = talent + mechanism + culture. Revenue needs market, product, and supply chain — the root is whether org can hold. Strategy is the steering wheel; org is chassis and transmission. Turn the wheel without changing chassis — the car drifts.
Why mechanism cannot move first
Many firms jump straight to mechanisms — that is building on sand. Root in business and org systems first, then performance and pay work. We align strategy before mechanism: profit, productivity, strategic projects owned at each level — then cup, then point, then pilot.
Skip steps and I have seen whole scorecards scrapped.
What on-site rollout shows
Optoelectronics-type cases do not start with a scorecard. Split a RMB 3B plate into business units, BU heads own P&L, unify cup framework — revenue RMB 3B → 6B in three years. Owner freed for the next five-year horizon — drive moved from person to org.
Org is harder than strategy because it touches hearts and interests. Get it right once — the firm crosses cycles.
Liu Xinzhen · NDU MSc · ICMC-certified consultant ｜ XieChunQiu · Shenzhen
20+ years · 600+ clients · 200+ listed companies · 80%+ repeat or referral
