If nodding were a strategy, every plan would succeed.

There’s a moment in every major strategy meeting when it feels like the hardest part is over. The plan is clear, the slides are polished, and everyone around the table is nodding in agreement. For a few moments, it looks like everyone is aligned. It even feels like alignment.

The issue is nodding doesn’t necessarily mean agreement. It just indicates that people heard the same words and added their own meaning to them. One person walks out thinking speed is the most important. Another believes the process is the key. Someone else quietly reorders the goals in their mind. And yes, someone else is probably just thinking, “waffles — that’s what I want for breakfast tomorrow.”

On the surface, nothing looks wrong. Everyone is working. Everyone can explain the plan. But the farther you get from the room, the more those small differences begin to add up. By the time the results appear, you realize that everyone had been pulling in slightly different directions the whole time.

That’s the trap. Strategy usually doesn’t fall apart because of resistance or dysfunction. It quietly unravels beneath the surface, and you only realize it once the numbers reveal it.

Try this: Next time you’re in a room full of nods, pause and ask three people—privately—what they believe the top priority is. If their answers aren’t the same, you’ve already discovered the fault line.