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As we close out 2025, the rear-view mirror reveals months of immense complexity. Business leaders are grappling with a paradox: we have more data, more tools, and more connectivity than ever, yet clarity remains elusive.

In this edition, we’re looking back at the Top 10 Strategy Challenges that defined the business landscape in 2025 based on the trends our Principal Strategist Myrthe Doedens gathered last week, and exploring how we can flip these obstacles into your greatest opportunities for 2026.

The good news? The solution isn't more strategy. It's better visualization and communication of the strategy you have.

The 10 Challenges of 2025

We asked, you answered. And the research confirms it. The strategy scars from 2025 aren’t about "bad ideas." They are about the inability to execute good ones amidst noise. Here are the top 10 hurdles leaders faced this year:

1. Time: The #1 enemy. Leaders were too buried in the "now" to think about the "next."
2. Commitment: Getting genuine buy-in was harder than ever with everyone chasing fires that needed attention.
3. Lack of Priorities: When everything is a priority, nothing is. 2025 saw teams drowning in "critical" tasks.
4. Status Quo: The comfort of "how we've always done it" blocked innovation.
5. Not Understanding Strategy: Too many teams confused a "to-do list" with a strategic direction.
6. Lack of Tools: Leaders lacked the frameworks to think strategically, reverting to tactical firefighting.
7. Lack of Alignment: The gap between the C-suite’s vision and the frontline’s reality widened.
8. Firefighting: Reactive decision-making replaced proactive planning.
9. Data Overload: We had the data, but we lacked the insight = information without meaning.
10. Unclear Direction: Without a North Star, organizations drifted.

From Obstacle to Opportunity in 2026

If 2025 was the year of complexity, let 2026 be the year of clarity.

Every single one of the challenges above stems from a breakdown in communication and shared understanding. This is where Working Visually becomes a strategic asset, not just a creative nice-to-have.

Below is a quick view of how we are approaching the top challenges on that list for clients to drive success in the new year.

1. Turn "No Time" into "Accelerated Understanding"

• The Shift: Visuals are processed 60,000x faster than text.
• 2026 Opportunity: Stop writing 50-page decks. Start drawing 1-page strategy maps. Start simple and build the story. Your team will thank you for it.

2. Turn "Lack of Alignment" into "Co-Creation"

• The Shift: People support what they help create.
• 2026 Opportunity: Don't unveil strategy; build it visually in real-time workshops. When teams see their ideas on the wall (or digital whiteboard), alignment happens organically.

3. Turn "Data Overload" into "Visual Storytelling"

• The Shift: Data is cold; stories are warm.
• 2026 Opportunity: Use data visualization not just to show what is happening, but why it matters. Contextualize the numbers with a visual narrative that connects to the human experience.

4. Turn "Status Quo" into "The Art of the Possible"

• The Shift: It’s hard to be something you can’t see.
• 2026 Opportunity: Use "Visioning" exercises to literally draw the future state. When the status quo is contrasted visually with a compelling future, the choice becomes obvious.

Your Visual Strategy Toolkit

You don’t need to be an artist to solve these problems. You just need to be brave enough to pick up the pen.

• Audit Your Artifacts: Look at your 2025 strategy documents. Are they dense text? If so, challenge your team to translate the top 3 goals into a single diagram.
• Map the Mess: If you are "firefighting," map out the process. Seeing the bottleneck visually is the first step to extinguishing the fire.
• Visual Check-ins: Start your 2026 kick-off meetings with a visual template (like a "Rose, Bud, Thorn" or a "Learning Map") to surface priorities instantly.

If strategy stays in your head, your team can’t execute. In 2026, let’s get it out on the page, on the wall, and into the hearts of your teams.

Here’s to a clearer, more visual year ahead.

The Throughline Team

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