Strategic Planning Beyond Slide Decks: Lessons from Formula 1
Bring your strategy to life with these seven F1-inspired moves
As an executive, you’re measured by outcomes, not presentations. Yet every year, you and your teams spend weeks in meetings discussing, writing down next year’s plans, and polishing slides. By the time the quarter ends, the big goals already feel out of date, and teams are back to firefighting.
This edition shows how Formula 1 teams keep strategy alive and concludes with seven practical moves you can use to do the same.
🎪 At the end of this newsletter, I will also share which conferences I’ll be speaking at after the summer break. I’d love to meet you there! 🎤
The annual strategy theater
Strategic planning is an opportunity to align the entire company around winning moves, if done well. However, the ‘set-and-forget’ approach that most organizations use is inherently flawed:
The conversation is a chase for headcount and budget rather than competitive choices.
Strategy decks are word‑smithed to death; in the end, every initiative is top priority. After revealing the strategy through slide-deck marathons, everybody goes back to day‑to‑day firefighting.
People consume the plan like passengers read an in‑flight magazine: mildly interesting, rarely actionable.
Managers execute but rarely shape direction, so they comply rather than commit.
Business realities shift quickly, so the forecasts become redundant as soon as they are finished. Little time is spent checking whether the plan is working, so course corrections come too late.
How F1 teams plan in real time
Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, where ten teams, with hundreds of engineers, design and build their cars and race 24 times a year. They roll out roughly 1,000 improvements every week and must react in real time to rule changes, weather conditions, and other on‑track surprises. Winning is often decided by tenths of a second.
The traditional annual planning approach doesn’t cut it. Planning fast and re‑planning faster is the only way for Formula 1 teams to survive. This is why they run a continuous, high‑velocity strategy loop:
The long game. Before the first race, teams make big‑rock decisions for the season: upgrade the wind tunnel, secure a new supplier, or develop a new power unit.
Race scenario planning. Practice sessions feed hundreds of models that predict tire wear, weather shifts, and the likelihood of a safety car. Through scenario planning, strategists load the most likely branches into a playbook.
Short feedback loops. After the Friday practice sessions, the data is fed back to the factory, where engineers analyze it and propose set-up changes for an overnight upgrade. On Saturday morning, the changes are made to the car, tested, and prepared for qualifying and the race on Sunday.
Distributed decision rights. When rain appears on track, the strategist can call the driver in for wet tyres within ten seconds. This all happens without calling a meeting or seeking permission from higher-ups.
Reflection rhythm built-in. After the race, the team spends two hours debriefing everything that happened during the race. Lessons learned and data flow back to the factory.
Dynamic resource allocation. During the Monday-morning all-hands meeting, the factory’s attention turns to the hottest problem of the week. The lessons learned on track inform design tweaks for the next race, sometimes manufactured within forty‑eight hours via 3‑D‑printed parts.
Balancing short-term and long-term. Throughout the race season, the team shifts time and money to work on more radical changes for next season’s car that can’t be applied to the current season’s car.
Formula 1 strategy is a living hypothesis, updated every lap, not every year.
What you can do
I can hear you thinking, “Sure, but we’re not a Formula 1 team.” And that makes sense. Here are seven F1-inspired things you can try that we have successfully helped ‘real’ businesses adopt:
Strategy formulation
Write a one‑page Strategic Intent. Describe the obstacles the team needs to overcome and what you’re going to do about them in the next 2–3 years.
Make trade-offs explicit. Instead of vague principles, write choices as even-over statements, such as “Speed and consistency even over Variety.” They spell the trade‑offs you’re willing to make when hard choices appear.
Strategic operating rhythm
Adopt a quarterly rhythm. Every three months, determine the 90-day outcomes that ladder up to the Strategic Intent. Translate intent into measurable results you expect this quarter.
Run a weekly Unblock meeting. A structured, fit-for-purpose meeting in which you review outcomes, metrics, process a co‑created agenda with potential blockers, and close with clear action items.
Strategy adaptation
Review roles and decision rights. Continuously, take action to unblock organizational unclarities that are creating decision-making bottlenecks.
Reallocate budget continuously. Maintain a 10–25% flexible fund to allocate talent and resources to emerging priorities.
Review and reset quarterly. At the end of your 90-day cycle, hold a ‘retrospective’ meeting to reflect on what went well, what you’ve learned, and what we should do to be more successful next cycle.
Strategic planning isn’t dead, but the 50‑page annual PowerPoint is. It is simply too slow for a world that is moving closer to Formula 1 speeds every year. On your next cycle, pick one practice above and test‑drive it. It is time to put your strategy into action.
Want to learn more?
Pick up a copy of the Unblock book for more on our approach to strategy.
Try the 5-minute scan to discover what’s blocking your organization.
Book me as a speaker for your next event.
Join one of our free inspiration sessions in August or September.
Partner with us for training, workshops, and leadership offsites.
Meet me here
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be speaking at the following conferences. I’d love to meet you there!
Agile 2025 in Denver (July 28-30)
EODF: European Organisation Design Forum in Budapest (Sept 19-20)
Management Summit in Lisbon (Sept 23-24)
Agile Slovenia in Ljubljana (Oct 22nd)
World OKR Summit - online (Oct 30-31)
That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed it. Simply hit ‘reply’ or comment—I read every message. Have a great summer! ☀️
