From Classic Strategy to Enactive Strategy: A Personal Journey

We delivered the strategy - the charts, the logic, the slides
and nothing changed.

When I joined BCG, it was everything I hoped it would be. I was 22, eager, and ready to take on the world of strategy. One of my very first projects had me working for a company that sold reagents—specialized materials used by medical laboratories for diagnostic testing like blood work.

My focus was to help develop a business strategy for their blood bank segment. That meant flying around the country, interviewing dozens of blood banks, digging deep into their economics, and understanding how reagents fit into their workflows. I explored how competitors were positioning themselves, segmented the customer base, and ultimately built a go-to-market strategy.

We presented the final recommendations to the client—our big stack of logic, charts, and strategy. And then we left. Just like that. No follow-up. No next steps. No idea whether any of it took root.

That was the rhythm of classic strategy work: drop in, deliver the strategy, disappear. At first, I found the work fascinating. It was intellectually stimulating. But it didn’t take long to notice the uncomfortable truth.

Nothing changed.

We created slide decks, not outcomes. Strategies lived on paper, not in practice. And the organizations we worked with were often no different after we left than they were before we arrived.

It wasn’t until much later in my career that I discovered an alternative—a shift that would eventually define the rest of my work. I was sent to Australia to help a large paper company rethink its strategy. This group had a broad portfolio—paper, timber, tissue, feminine hygiene products, tabletops.

We were understaffed. There were only three of us on the ground, with the rest of our leadership based in London. We had no choice but to bring the client in—not just as stakeholders, but as active team members. We recruited them into the strategy process itself.

They didn’t just sit in meetings. They built customer segments. They debated tradeoffs. They helped shape strategic choices. They became co-creators of the strategy.

And something clicked.

The strategy came alive. The ideas didn’t need to be sold—they were already owned. The client teams carried the work back into their organization, and it spread organically. Change was happening before we even wrapped the engagement.

That experience reshaped my entire view of what strategy could be.

I brought the approach back to the U.S., applying it at a life insurance company, and later at a major auto manufacturer. In each case, we turned strategy from a static deliverable into a dynamic process. From something handed down to something built together.

This was the beginning of what I now call Enactive Strategy—and ultimately, Strategy Acceleration.

The word “enactive” comes from cognitive science. Traditional models suggest we respond to our environment. The enactive model suggests we co-create it. We shape the world—and it shapes us.

That’s what strategy must become. Not a stimulus-response plan, but a living system. A feedback loop. A process of mutual enactment where strategy and execution evolve together.

Enactive Strategy is about collapsing the gap between thinking and doing. Strategy isn’t real until it’s activated. Until it’s lived.

That’s the journey I’ve been on—from frameworks to feedback loops. From deliverables to lived experience. From classic to enactive.

And I’m still learning. Still enacting. Still accelerating.

Because strategy doesn’t live in decks. It lives in people.

If this approach resonates with you—if you're ready to move beyond decks and into real momentum—I'd love to share more.

Join me in the Strategy Accelerator program.

It’s designed for leaders and practitioners who want to bring strategy to life—who are ready to build systems, not just slides. Together, we’ll explore how to activate strategy through people, process, and persistent momentum.

So, if you're ready to move from thinking about strategy to doing it—consistently, deliberately, and sustainably—let’s do it together.

Let’s accelerate.

— Alex Nesbitt
Founder, Strategy Academy
Helping founders stop spinning—and start scaling.

P.S. When you're ready, here are 2 ways I can help you:

(1) Contact me for 1:1 CEO coaching and advisory services

(2) Apply to the Strategy Accelerator program for leaders and strategic professionals who want to master strategy in action. Don't miss the enrollment deadline - May 23, 2025