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In the face of high rates of strategy execution failure, as described by Belk Olsen (2022), this paper argues that organizational culture is a critical and often-overlooked blind spot. In this article I claim the Bolman and Deal (2021) view on culture as a “symbolic frame” underestimates the materiality of organizational culture and propose a re-evaluation through a Nietzschean lens, which posits culture as an embodied, heritable force that shapes behaviors and beliefs. Drawing on three anonymized case studies from 2023 to 2025, I demonstrate how this theoretical framework can uncover the root causes of strategic misalignment, moving beyond symptomatic solutions. Through application of practical consulting tools, including the Competing Values Framework (CVF), culture is visualized between (1) “as is” and “to be” cultural states and (2) a shared language for cultural transformation consisting out of behaviors, mindsets, and systems. Finally, by reframing leaders as ‘selection principles’ I highlight their crucial role in cultivating and transmitting cultural units. Ultimately, this work stresses the innovative power of a Nietzschean perspective for understanding and leveraging culture as a critical determinant of organizational adaptability and a key success factor for strategy execution in an era of transformation and increasing global uncertainty.

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Culture is the Organizational Blind Spot: Three Case Studies That Argue for a Nietzschean Re-Evaluation of Culture-Strategy Alignment in Business Consulting

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Sven Gellens

摘要

In the face of high rates of strategy execution failure, as described by Belk Olsen (2022), this paper argues that organizational culture is a critical and often-overlooked blind spot. In this article I claim the Bolman and Deal (2021) view on culture as a “symbolic frame” underestimates the materiality of organizational culture and propose a re-evaluation through a Nietzschean lens, which posits culture as an embodied, heritable force that shapes behaviors and beliefs. Drawing on three anonymized case studies from 2023 to 2025, I demonstrate how this theoretical framework can uncover the root causes of strategic misalignment, moving beyond symptomatic solutions. Through application of practical consulting tools, including the Competing Values Framework (CVF), culture is visualized between (1) “as is” and “to be” cultural states and (2) a shared language for cultural transformation consisting out of behaviors, mindsets, and systems. Finally, by reframing leaders as ‘selection principles’ I highlight their crucial role in cultivating and transmitting cultural units. Ultimately, this work stresses the innovative power of a Nietzschean perspective for understanding and leveraging culture as a critical determinant of organizational adaptability and a key success factor for strategy execution in an era of transformation and increasing global uncertainty.