Gothenburg · 8 October 2026
Why Strategy Dies in the Middle?
There are six reasons why in most organisations strategy doesn’t translate into results. On October 8th in Gothenburg, I’m filling a room to answer that precise question.
Invitation only.Some time ago the CEO of Volvo Cars announced on LinkedIn that the company was moving from a harmony culture to a performance culture. Thousands of likes, hundreds of comments. And underneath it, the question worth asking about any strategy: what happened to it after it left that room?
If it went the way it goes in most organisations, it was translated a few times on the way down, until each department was executing its own version of it. Different teams started pulling in different directions. A culture shift cuts across every function, so no single person felt accountable for the whole of it. Where it ran into trouble, the news travelled sideways, at the coffee machine, long before any of it travelled up. And every week of that quietly moved the organisation’s attention from the official channels to the informal ones.
Nobody is to blame. Neither the CEO nor the middle managers did anything wrong. That’s exactly what makes this worth studying.
I spent twelve years inside Renault and Volvo watching this happen from the middle, and the last ten years advising executives about it. Same pattern, company after company, whatever the strategy was. What I’ve learned about why it happens, and what interrupts it, is what I’m bringing into the room on October 8th, to run it by you. We’ll be answering that question together.
Two out of three large organisations struggle to execute their strategy (Harvard Business Review).
How many of these sound familiar?
- The strategy we agreed in January is coming back to me in versions I don’t fully recognise.
- My managers keep asking for more direction, and I keep wondering why that is.
- Decisions from our leadership meetings seem to arrive on the floor as questions, not actions.
- Most functions report progress, and the plan is still slipping.
- I wouldn’t be surprised to find two teams here building roughly the same thing right now.
- Our steering meetings spend a lot of time re-deciding things I thought were decided.
- I’ve made the same decision more than once, and it seems to keep coming back to me.
- People bring me problems more often than they bring me recommendations.
- Deadlines here tend to move a week at a time, until a customer notices.
- The survey numbers look fine, and some of the people I’d hate to lose have left anyway.
- Discussions seem to run shorter when I’m in the room. I’m not sure that’s a good sign.
- Problems rarely get raised early here. They tend to surface later, when they’re expensive.
- Exit interviews have told me things our one-on-ones should have caught a year earlier.
- When two departments disagree, work slows down until someone senior steps in.
If you counted three or more, this afternoon is for you.
Want a sharper read before you come?
There is a 3-minute executive version of the diagnostic that maps the same six gaps from the top of the house. It shows where strategy is currently losing shape, how deep each weak point runs, and which gap is costing most right now.
You can take it here: florinlungu.com/executive-assessment
Many of the people who end up in the room have already done it. It gives us a shared language from the first minute.
Why does strategy die in the middle?
Here are the six main reasons
These are not abstract leadership concepts. They are the six structural gaps the diagnostic is built to detect.
Most organisations run with a version of every one of them. Which ones are costing you the most, and where to start, is the work of the afternoon.
The Accountability Gap
No one takes ownership of the cross-functional work, so problems climb the organisation instead of getting solved where they appear. The strategy waits while they climb.
61% of executives say at least half of their decision-making time is used ineffectively. McKinsey, 2019
The Feedback Gap
Bad news travels up too slowly. By the time a problem reaches someone who can act on it, the cheap moment to fix it has passed.
70% of the variance in team engagement traces back to the manager, yet only 44% of managers have ever received management training. Gallup, 2025
The Clarity Gap
Every layer interprets the strategy its own way, so on any given day several versions of it are being executed at once.
Only 28% of the executives and managers responsible for executing strategy could list three of their company’s five priorities. MIT Sloan Management Review, 2018
The Influence Gap
Work that depends on cooperation between departments stalls until someone senior steps in.
Time spent on collaborative work has grown by 50%+ in two decades; most managers now spend 85% of their time on email, meetings and calls. Harvard Business Review, 2016/2018
The Trust Gap
People agree in the meeting and settle what they really think afterwards, through the informal channels.
Trust in immediate managers has fallen to 29%, a 37% decline in three years. DDI Global Leadership Forecast, 2025
The Alignment Gap
Teams, departments and divisions all pull hard, in directions that don’t quite add up.
The average company loses over 20% of its productive capacity, more than a day per week per employee, to organisational drag. Bain, Time Talent Energy, 2017
Who this is for
Executives and senior leaders
This afternoon is for people in leadership positions in organisations of roughly 100 to 500 people, or leading a division of that size inside a larger group: CEO, COO, CTO, CHRO or People director, managing director, head of a business unit, a site or a function. Titles vary; the seat is the same. If you own a plan that other people have to deliver, this is for you.
It is not for specialists and line roles without people responsibility. And it is not for consultants, coaches or trainers in this market.
Your host
Florin Lungu
Florin spent twelve years inside technical organisations like Renault and Volvo, leading cross-functional projects and teams, in the layer where strategy either moves or dies. For more than ten years since, he has advised the executives above that layer, coached their leaders, and spoken in rooms like the Passion for Projects Congress, where 300+ project professionals rated his session 3.8 out of 4.
He is a Maxwell Leadership certified coach, trainer and speaker, and an accredited professional of the Cialdini Institute.
On October 8th he’s hosting the room where this material lands first, and where the people in it help shape what goes into the book, out in spring 2027.
From the room
What people say after an afternoon like this
“Florin delivered an engaging keynote with very tangible takeaways and many tips and tricks for improving your leadership. Several times throughout the session I smiled as I recognized the situations he described, combined with the simple, but powerful twists.”
Katarina Strömberg
President, PMI Sweden Chapter · on “Bridging Leadership Gaps in Projects”, Passion for Projects Congress 2026
“What sets Florin apart as a speaker is his ability to translate complex leadership challenges into simple, structured frameworks that are easy to apply. His ‘chain reaction’ from clarity to influence, combined with concrete 1% shifts, made the content both practical and relevant for the audience. I would recommend Florin to event organizers who are looking for a speaker who brings structure, clarity, and actionable insights, particularly for audiences working in complex, matrix environments where alignment and accountability are ongoing challenges.”
Barbara Klein
VP, Passion for Projects
“Florin translates complex topics into practical frameworks, including the clarity, alignment, accountability, trust, feedback, and influence gaps. He not only provided valuable tools and structured reflection opportunities but consistently challenged my thinking.”
Marie-Mädli Kivimäe
Product Lead, Volvo Cars · PMI Sweden mentorship cohort
“Within a few months of working with Florin, we gained a comprehensive understanding of our team’s strengths and areas for improvement. This insight has been crucial in formulating a strategy to enhance our overall performance and collaboration.”
Gabriel Sas
Chair Professor of Structural Engineering, Luleå University of Technology
The catch
Free to attend. So what’s the catch?
This is free because it is the material of the book (spring 2027). I want it stress-tested by people who actually run organisations before it is locked on paper. Your pushback improves the book. You get a working language and a diagnostic frame six months early.
That is the only catch.
After the afternoon some people simply leave with sharper eyes. Others ask for a deeper look at their own middle layer: the full organisational diagnostic, targeted work on one or two gaps, or a programme that builds the missing capability. Both outcomes are fine. The room itself stays free of pitches.
What you will leave with
- A shared language for the six gaps that kill strategy in the middle.
- A clearer picture of which gaps are most active in organisations like yours.
- One practical diagnostic question per gap you can take back the next day.
- The option (only if useful) to continue the conversation into a proper organisational read or targeted development work.
The afternoon is designed so the diagnostic logic is experienced, not just described.
Apply
How the application works
- You fill in the form below.
- Florin reviews every application, and you get on a short call to see whether the room fits what you’re carrying right now. For people he already knows, the call is often skipped.
- If it fits, your seat is confirmed and the details land in your inbox.
If you have already taken the 3-minute executive diagnostic, bring the profile. It makes the conversation faster and more useful for both of us.
FAQ
Is this a sales pitch dressed as an event?
No, and I understand why you’re asking. Nothing is sold from the front of the room and there’s no offer at the end. The catch, as described above, is the whole catch.
What does it cost?
Nothing to attend. It’s invitation only.
How long is it?
Doors open at 12:30 with a mingle and a light lunch. The main session runs from 13:00 to 16:00.
Why do I have to apply for a free event?
Because the afternoon only works with the right mix of people at the tables, and I’d rather turn down a mismatch now than have you spend an afternoon in the wrong room.
Who else will be in the room?
Executives and senior leaders from Nordic technical organisations, mostly Gothenburg and the west coast.
Can I send someone from my team instead?
If they own a plan that others deliver, yes. If they’re the one delivering it, this isn’t their room, and I run separate sessions that are. Reply to your invitation and I’ll point you there.
Is it in English or Swedish?
The session runs in English. Table conversations go wherever your table takes them.
Is there food?
Coffee and snacks will be served.
How much preparation is this?
None before you apply. If anything is worth doing before the day, confirmed guests hear about it in good time.
I can’t make 8 October.
Say so in the form anyway, and we’ll get on a call instead.
Apply for your seat
An executive preview in one afternoon. Invitation only.
Uni3 by Geely, Gothenburg · 8 October 2026.
Florin
Uni3 by Geely, Auditorium · Pumpgatan 1, SE-417 55 Göteborg