Three Trends Disrupting Strategy
Why Traditional Strategy Is Failing—and What Modern Leaders Must Do Differently
Andriyko Podilnyk
Summary
Traditional strategy models are no longer fit for purpose. While organisations continue to invest in ambitious plans and strategic frameworks, they often fail to connect with the people expected to deliver them. Why? Because the world has changed—and people have changed with it.
This article explores three surprising but critical cultural shifts that are quietly disrupting the way strategy lands (or doesn’t) inside organisations:
The Decline of Organised Religion: As faith structures lose influence globally, many individuals turn to work for meaning, identity, and belonging. This “workism” reshapes what people expect from strategy—it must feel purposeful, not just productive.
The Rise of Side Hustles and Fragmented Identity: Employees today wear many hats and no longer fully identify with a single employer. Traditional top-down communication models fail to engage this new workforce. Strategy must flex to accommodate multiple identities and motivations.
The Shift to Hybrid Work: Remote and hybrid setups have dismantled the informal rituals—hallway chats, team lunches, whiteboard moments—where strategy used to be absorbed. Without new rituals, strategy floats without landing, rooting, or growing.
Key Takeaway
We’re no longer in an age where strategy can be simply launched and cascaded. We’re in a world where strategy must be lived, co-created, and reinforced through human connection. This requires a new approach—not rooted in control, but in coherence, adaptability, and meaning.
In late 2022, Revolut was flying. One of Europe’s most valuable fintechs, it had just hit a $33 billion valuation. Internally, a sleek new strategy was launched: a bold vision, ambitious KPIs, and laminated one-pagers sent to every team. The message was crisp: global dominance through precision and pace.
But six months later, something was off. Strategy town halls were half-full. Product teams veered in different directions. Middle managers—off the record—admitted they couldn’t explain the strategy in their own words.
Slack channels told the real story: half the team had side hustles, mid-level managers were stretched thin, and junior staff quietly wondered if the company’s mission aligned with their own values.
This wasn’t a failure of design. It was a failure of connection. A well-meaning strategy collided with three invisible forces:
A workforce searching for deeper meaning at work.
Employees juggling multiple professional identities.
The slow evaporation of informal, in-between moments where strategy used to be absorbed.
The strategy was sound—and the organisation hadn’t changed. The problem was, people had. Our organisations are still largely run the same way they were 100 years ago: formal hierarchies, cascaded communication, top-down alignment. But the world around them has moved on. People have evolved. Culture has shifted. Meaning is fragmented. And when we apply yesterday’s organisational logic to today’s human reality, strategy slips through the cracks.
Decline of Organised Religion and the Quest for Workplace Meaning
Purpose is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s the glue that holds strategy together.
At Patagonia, job interviews often include a simple question: “What do you do for fun?” They’re not looking for a specific answer—they’re looking for purpose. The company famously hires people whose personal values align with their environmental mission. It’s not just branding—it’s strategic. A former VP said that employees regularly take lower salaries because the work feels like activism.
Why it matters?
In a world where many people no longer find meaning in organised religion, companies like Patagonia become the new temples. Their strategy isn’t just understood—it’s believed.
Historically
Across many cultures and societies, organised religion has provided people with purpose, identity, ritual, and moral grounding. As Karl Marx once wrote, "Religion is the opium of the people." In his view, religion pacified the frustrations of workers by offering meaning and moral order—ultimately discouraging them from questioning social structures. In the workplace, the absence of that same structure leaves a vacuum. And when people no longer find comfort in religion, they start to ask more from work: Why am I here? What is this for? What does this company stand for? Whether through churches, mosques, synagogues, or temples, religion offered a narrative structure for life—community, guidance, and meaning beyond the self.
Now
Globally, religious affiliation is becoming more fluid. In the West, attendance at religious institutions like churches and synagogues is declining rapidly. In some parts of the Global South, traditional faiths remain strong, but even there, younger generations are increasingly spiritual but less formally religious. The result: a vacuum of meaning that many people are now unconsciously trying to fill at work.
"Workism is rooted in the belief that employment can provide everything we have historically expected from organised religion.”
Derek Thompson, *The Atlantic*
Why it Matters?
A mission statement can no longer be abstract. It has to resonate. Strategy has to feel like something worth believing in—not just doing. If people can’t connect emotionally with a strategic direction, it remains just another deck.
Rise of Side Hustles and the Multiplicity of Identity
If your strategy isn’t designed for people with multiple identities, it won’t land anywhere.
In 2023, a mid-level product manager at Google quietly became a TikTok star, sharing mental health advice to millions. She didn’t quit her job—but her time, energy, and sense of purpose began to shift. Internally, she was seen as “distracted.” But to her, it was just being whole.
Why it matters?
Organisations no longer own 100% of a person’s professional identity. Strategy must speak to people who are not only multitasking—but multi-belonging.
Historically
A job was a single track. Loyalty was linear. Professional identity was defined by one employer, often for decades.
Now
Today’s workforce is more diversified. One in three workers in the U.S. has a side hustle. By the end of 2025, it's expected to reach half. Employees are marketers by day, podcasters by night. This isn’t a distraction—it’s a new normal.
"People don’t want jobs. They want lives that work."
Bruce Daisley, former Twitter VP EMEA
Why it Matters?
People no longer fully identify with your company. That means traditional top-down communication fails to stick. Strategy must be co-owned, flexible, and tap into the personal motivations of diverse employees.
Shift to Hybrid Work and the Erosion of Informal Communication
In a hybrid world, strategy doesn’t travel unless you carry it.
At a large consultancy in London, a senior team ran weekly whiteboard stand-ups—messy, unscheduled, and intensely human. When they shifted to remote work, they replaced it with a tidy Miro board and bullet-pointed agendas. Six months later, morale dipped and client delivery stalled. A consultant described it best: “We had all the same meetings—but none of the magic.”
Why it matters?
It wasn’t the whiteboard. It was the unscripted humour, the messy overlaps, the energy in the room. That’s where strategy used to land. Without new rituals, your strategy floats—untethered. It has nowhere to land, no place to put down roots, and no human soil in which to grow. The informal glue is gone. And unless we design intentional moments for meaning and connection, even the best strategy will drift.
Historically
Strategy was socialised in kitchens, corridors, and casual chats. It was reinforced by osmosis. Informal culture did as much work as formal documents.
Now
Hybrid models have cut these informal ties. A study from Berkeley found a 25% drop in cross-group collaboration due to remote work. Another survey showed 1 in 4 employees feel their social skills have declined.
"What disappears when we stop sharing spaces? Culture. Trust. Strategy-in-motion.”
Priya Parker, author of, The Art of Gathering
Why it Matters?
No more relying on luck or lunch. Strategy must now be embedded into rituals, meetings, language, and interactions—everywhere, intentionally. Otherwise, it just drifts.
So, what do we do about it?
Strategy needs to feel lived. Shared. Real. That means rethinking how it’s crafted and communicated:
Root it in human meaning.
Let it flex across multiple identities.
Build in rituals that reinforce it in a distributed world.
We’re no longer in a world where strategy is launched, communicated, cascaded, and acted upon as planned. We’re in a world where human needs trump process—and where bringing strategy to life requires a more adaptive, empathetic, and participatory approach. One rooted not in control, but in but in coherence and adaptability.
Sources and References
Pew Research Center (2024): [https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/03/15/8-in-10-americans-say-religion-is-losing-influence-in-public-life](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/03/15/8-in-10-americans-say-religion-is-losing-influence-in-public-life)
The Atlantic / Derek Thompson (2023): [https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/03/work-revolution-ai-wfh-new-book/673572](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/03/work-revolution-ai-wfh-new-book/673572)
Fast Company (2023): [https://www.fastcompany.com/90875705/how-workism-replaced-religion](https://www.fastcompany.com/90875705/how-workism-replaced-religion)
Velocity Global (2023): [https://velocityglobal.com/resources/blog/gig-economy-statistics](https://velocityglobal.com/resources/blog/gig-economy-statistics)
Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley (2022): [https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how\_remote\_work\_affects\_our\_communication\_and\_collaboration](https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_remote_work_affects_our_communication_and_collaboration)
New York Post (2024): [https://nypost.com/2024/12/28/business/25-of-remote-workers-social-skills-have-declined-while-working-from-home-survey](https://nypost.com/2024/12/28/business/25-of-remote-workers-social-skills-have-declined-while-working-from-home-survey)
Bruce Daisley, *Fortitude: The Myth of Resilience* (2022)
Priya Parker, The Art of Gathering (2018)
