In 2011, HP’s leadership made a shocking announcement: eliminate its PC business, one of its core revenue drivers. Entire functions were cut, employees were left in the dark, confusion and fear spread. The move, led by then-CEO Leo Apotheker, was abrupt and lacked a clear long-term strategy.

When companies make drastic changes without a clear purpose, uncertainty takes over. But even today, there are companies, also huge ones, whose board members believe they are good to go without a strategy. But why? For what reason?

While cutting out strategy functions might create short-term efficiencies, I doubt it will hold up in the mid-term—and it’s certainly unsustainable in the long run. Because without a strategy, there is no clear route forward. No direction. And often, no meaningful destination.

Strategy: More Than a Plan—It’s a Source of Meaning

At its best, strategy provides clarity and alignment—especially in large organizations where personal relationships can’t guide every decision. It serves as a compass, steering people and resources toward a shared vision. It sets standards, establishes expectations, and offers a sense of purpose through values, principles, and objectives.

Yet, even when companies claim to have a strategy, one crucial element is often missing: the reason behind it all.

From day one in business school, we learn that a company’s reason to exist is defined by the value it creates for its customers—through products, services, or innovation. Yet, too often, those in power (not just in business) lose sight of their true responsibility: serving that reason. Instead, leadership becomes an exercise in control rather than in creation.

The Search for Meaning—In Business and Life

But here’s the bigger issue: Many individuals haven’t even found their own purpose and meaning in life. They are like a driftwood in the current.

Without clear guiding principles and a destination, decisions become random, inefficient, and ineffective. They lack coherence. Whether in business or daily life, without an overarching vision, our activities feel empty and meaningless. But especially meaning is what we are desperately in need and looking for.

Karl Fordemann put it well in his book: “Whoever wants performance must offer meaning.” A strategy isn’t just about numbers and targets—it’s the foundation for purpose, motivation, and engagement.

Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, and author of Man’s Search for Meaning, believed that meaning is not something we invent – it is something we discover through the questions life is constantly asking us, and it is our responsibility to answer them with our actions.

Without a strategy, you’re moving, but not necessarily toward where you want to be. Imagine a ship without a course, drifting aimlessly. If you ask a passerby for directions, the first thing they’ll ask is: “Where do you want to go?”

Likewise, a company without a strategy is like a person without a sense of purpose. It drifts, reacts, and operates in survival mode rather than shaping its own future.

A CEO who cuts strategy is like a ship captain throwing away the navigation tools, hoping the winds will take the company somewhere worthwhile. But without a clear destination, decisions are inefficient, ineffective, directionless, and ultimately meaningless.

Defining Your Own Path

Renowned psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi discovered that to experience flow—that powerful state of deep focus, energy, and fulfillment—we need a clear goal. Without it, we feel busy but not productive. We work hard but lack progress. We take action but feel frustrated.

And here’s the truth: You cannot reach what you haven’t defined.

The process of defining strategy—whether for a company or for your own life—clarifies your purpose, your direction, your values, and what can provide meaning for you.

So, let me ask you: Have you already lost sight of your New Year’s resolutions?

It’s time to go deeper. To reconnect with what truly drives you. To define your strategy—not just for business, but for life.