You Can’t Strategise Out Of Something You Don’t Know, ever heard the saying: “you don’t know what you don’t know?”
You can’t fix what you won’t face. Naming the unseen is the first step to leading with clarity.
Just the other day, another one of our executive clients came into the meeting room, looking all flustered and out of breath.
He thought he had the playbook memorised.
Budgets. KPIs. Strategic plans.
Every lever in the business — pulled at the right time.
And yet, the quiet part he never admitted?
The strategy wasn’t working anymore.
Not because the market changed. But because he had, internally he was still running the old script.
When Strategy Hides Silence
High performers are brilliant at problem-solving.
But here’s the paradox:
When the problem isn’t external—when it’s internal— strategy can become a shield.
- We add more goals instead of more grounding
- We tweak processes instead of naming pain
- We double down on fixing symptoms instead of finding the source
The unspoken cost?
Years of quiet misalignment disguised as productivity and, as I like to call it “busyness”
The Unnamed Weight
I’ve seen it countless times:
Leaders who can diagnose a market trend in seconds… but can’t name the unease in their own chest.
- The creeping doubt that success no longer feels like success
- The exhaustion that no holiday can solve
- The subtle grief of outgrowing a role you once loved
Until you name it, you can’t navigate it.
And until you face it, you can’t free it.
The First Breakthrough Is Language
In coaching sessions, the real shift doesn’t happen in action plans.
It happens in moments of honest naming:
“I don’t want this role anymore—at least, not in the same way.”
“I’m exhausted from being who they think I am.”
“I built this life. But I’ve outgrown it.”
However, just naming doesn’t solve it overnight.
But it changes everything:
“Because once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
And once you’ve said it, you can start to move through it.”
Why Self-Awareness Is the Missing Lever
Most leadership development focuses on skills.
But the quiet edge lies in self-awareness:
- Seeing where your actions and values have drifted apart
- Recognising patterns that keep you stuck in “perform and prove” mode
- Allowing yourself to question the rules you once swore by
Without naming what’s really happening, strategy is just… noise.
Noise that drowns out the call toward something truer.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need another framework or 12-point plan. You need a mirror.
A pause. A name to your problems.
Because the moment you name what’s really happening — you don’t just gain clarity.
You gain permission.
To stop strategising.
And start realigning.
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