A smart-arse student glibly stated ”Culture eats strategy for breakfast” – a remark attributed to Peter Drucker. A quick Web-search finds this quote often admiringly repeated. But it”s an example of something way too common in management – outrageous statements that sound great but are just nonsense.

We don”t need to list out all the endless cases of companies with hugely strong cultures that just messed up trying to do something strategically dumb. We probably have no idea how many more ...