Career Intel

Strategy & Strategic Planning

Strategy and Strategic Planning is shifting from annual plan production to continuous orchestration of choices, execution, and adaptation under AI acceleration, regulatory pressure, and geopolitical volatility. Practitioners are increasingly expected to combine foresight, portfolio logic, KPI architecture, and stakeholder alignment in one operating system, with strategy outputs becoming more evidence-linked, scenario-based, and execution-aware.

Last updated

The current state

as of

Strategy and Strategic Planning is shifting from annual plan production to continuous orchestration of choices, execution, and adaptation under AI acceleration, regulatory pressure, and geopolitical volatility. Practitioners are increasingly expected to combine foresight, portfolio logic, KPI architecture, and stakeholder alignment in one operating system, with strategy outputs becoming more evidence-linked, scenario-based, and execution-aware.

What’s shaping Strategy & Strategic Planning right now

  • AI-native strategy work is collapsing analysis and scenario-building time, pushing strategists toward problem framing, assumption testing, and governance of machine-generated options.
  • GRC and regulatory regimes like CSRD, CSDDD, DORA, and AI rules are turning compliance, controls, and resilience into core inputs to strategic choice.
  • Geopolitical fragmentation and supply-chain reconfiguration are shortening planning horizons and making scenario signposts, hedging, and location strategy routine strategy work.
  • Climate transition and physical-risk exposure are forcing strategy teams to embed sustainability, resilience, and multi-capital trade-offs into portfolio and capital allocation decisions.
  • Strategy is converging with execution management as organizations replace static plans with rolling reviews, OKR-linked priorities, and live performance dashboards.

Skills on the rise and in decline

Rising

  • Scenario design and signposting

    It is becoming more valuable because static forecasting is losing reliability, increasing the need to build plausible futures, track weak signals, and define pivot triggers.

  • Strategy traceability

    Boards and regulators increasingly require defensible, evidence-backed strategy logic that links objectives, KPIs, initiatives, risks, and controls.

Declining

  • Slide-centric synthesis

    AI and strategy platforms increasingly automate first-draft analysis, reporting, and planning-cycle administration, reducing the need for slide-centric synthesis and annual plan compilation.

This week’s brief

Geopolitical screening, permitting triage, and tax-credit strategy reshape location planning

Location strategy is becoming policy-screened this week, forcing strategists to weigh permits, incentives, and geopolitical exposure alongside cost and logistics.

June 29, 2026

Deep dive

What macro trends are shaping strategy roles in 2026?
Strategy and strategic planning roles in 2026 are being reshaped by widespread AI adoption, tighter regulation and governance requirements, geopolitical and market volatility, sustainability pressure, and ongoing workforce disruption. Strategists are spending less time on static annual plans and more time on continuous scenario planning, execution tracking, and cross-functional decision-making. AI is accelerating analysis and planning, but it is also creating new responsibilities around governance, risk, data quality, and responsible use. As trust becomes harder to maintain, strategy teams are also expected to communicate more transparently and align more closely with stakeholders.
What strategy planning methods are gaining traction in 2026?
Leading strategy teams in 2026 are moving toward AI-augmented planning with human oversight, using AI to surface options, scenarios, and metrics while keeping governance and validation in place. Annual planning is giving way to continuous, agile cycles with more frequent reviews, shorter execution horizons, and scenario-based updates. Practitioners are also combining multiple frameworks into a single strategy stack, linking goals, KPIs, initiatives, and evidence more explicitly. ESG, ecosystem thinking, and stakeholder-centered design are becoming more integrated into core strategy work.
How has strategy work changed in the last six months?
Strategy teams are increasingly using generative AI inside core planning workflows to speed up research, synthesis, scenario building, and executive communications. Instead of spending days on first-pass analysis and deck drafting, strategists are using AI to compare frameworks, summarize unstructured inputs, and generate multiple planning options much faster. This is pushing the role toward judgment, trade-off decisions, and continuous re-planning rather than one-time annual strategy cycles. Lightweight, outcome-driven methods such as OKRs are also becoming more common as teams iterate more frequently.
What skills are becoming more important in strategy roles in 2026?
Strategy and strategic planning roles are becoming more data-driven, tech-literate, and adaptive, with greater emphasis on systems thinking, scenario planning, environmental scanning, and long-term vision setting. Practitioners are increasingly expected to turn quantitative and qualitative data into clear insights, use AI and digital tools effectively, and influence stakeholders across the business. Legacy skills such as static annual planning, document-heavy reporting, and purely financial or PowerPoint-oriented work are losing importance. Strong communication, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to navigate uncertainty are becoming more critical than ever.
What tools are reshaping strategy and strategic planning in 2026?
Strategy and strategic planning teams in 2026 are increasingly using AI-native strategy execution platforms, cloud-based enterprise planning suites, strategic portfolio management tools, OKR and KPI systems, and integrated performance dashboards. These platforms connect goals, initiatives, resources, and outcomes in one workflow, making strategy execution more continuous and visible across the business. Newer categories are emerging around agentic AI for strategy work, external-signal and foresight tools, strategy validation and governance layers, and planning workflows linked to risk and compliance. Teams are also adapting broader work management tools for planning, but purpose-built strategy platforms are becoming more important as organizations move toward real-time, data-driven decision-making.
What changes signal a major strategy shift versus routine noise?
Major strategy shifts are developments that change an organization’s long-term ability to create or capture value, such as major market moves, regulatory changes, disruptive technology, or shifts in customer behavior. Routine noise is change that can be handled through normal tactical adjustments without revising core assumptions, priorities, or resource allocation. A useful test is whether the development invalidates a key strategy assumption, changes the business model or industry structure, or forces a reallocation of major investments. If it only affects short-term execution, it is usually noise rather than a strategic inflection point.

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