Although it’s bad to ignore a crisis, more serious problems for leaders arise when they try to rouse the collective will to address or prevent organizational emergencies. Heads nod around conference tables as well-laid-out rationales and action plans for strategic change are presented. Months later, however, the promised results fail to arrive.

Somewhere, somehow, a silent disconnect has intervened between those who see the big vision and those tasked with executing it, as if both groups hadn’t been on the same page all along, or even on the same team.

This sort of failure in strategy execution may be more common than most executives are willing to admit. Clear thinking and logic can chart a navigable path up the mountain, but the commitment to brave a risky climb can come only from the heart. And, as too many leaders discover, verbal commitments mean little when they aren’t backed by collective emotional engagement.

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