BUSINESS GROWTH
22  / SEEDWORLD.COM  JUNE 2026
L
ast month, I was working with a seed company 
that, on paper, looked like it was doing everything 
right.
They had a detailed annual plan, weekly execution 
meetings, campaign calendars mapped out months in 
advance. Product launches were scheduled, budgets 
were allocated, timelines were locked. The team was 
busy, engaged and moving fast. Still, they’d brought me 
in to help because something just wasn’t working. 
Despite all their activity, they weren’t gaining trac­
tion in the market. Internally, teams were pulling in 
slightly different directions. Marketing was focused 
on visibility. Sales was focused on short-term wins. 
Leadership was pushing for growth but struggling to 
define what that actually meant beyond numbers.
About an hour into our first working group session 
with senior leaders, I asked one of my favorite strategic 
planning questions: “What problem do you solve better 
than anyone else?”
What followed wasn’t disagreement so much as 
disconnection: everyone had a different answer. In that 
moment, it became abundantly clear that the compa­
ny’s problem wasn’t effort, execution or even capability; 
it was the absence of shared strategy. 
They’re hardly alone in that challenge. In fact, if 
parts of your organization are moving but not neces­
sarily moving together, this may feel uncomfortably 
familiar...
One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is 
treating strategy and planning as though they are the 
same thing. The terms are often used interchangeably 
in leadership conversations, annual planning sessions, 
and growth discussions, but they serve entirely differ­
Planning without strategy 
	 creates movement
 	 	 without direction
Shawn Brook  President, Seed World Group
ent purposes. When organizations 
fail to separate the two, they often 
create a great deal of activity with­
out creating meaningful momen­
tum.
Strategy defines the why and 
the how.
Planning defines the what and 
the when.
That distinction matters 
because planning without strat­
egy creates movement without 
direction. Teams become busy 
executing initiatives, managing 
timelines, launching campaigns, 
and responding to immediate 
demands, but many organizations 
still struggle to create alignment 
across the business. The issue is 
rarely effort. More often, the issue 
is clarity.
A strong strategy begins by 
defining purpose and position. It 
forces leadership teams to step 
back and answer foundational 
questions about who they are, who 
they serve, what problem they 
solve, and how they create value in 
a way that is meaningful and differ­
entiated. Strategy establishes the 
larger story the organization wants 
to tell and the role it intends to play 
in the market.

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