Traction: Strategy, Hope and the Future We Make

What happens when the future no longer feels within our reach and strategy no longer points the way forward?For more than two centuries, progress and strategy moved in tandem, anchored in the Enlightenment belief that tomorrow could be imagined, planned for, and improved. Today, that relationship is breaking down. Climate change, artificial intelligence, geopolitical conflict and economic disruption confront us with long problems - challenges that stretch beyond planning cycles, defy linear solutions, and expose the limits of conventional strategic thinking.This book offers a powerful diagnosis of why strategy as we know it no longer work, and a bold alternative for reclaiming hope in the future. It argues that we cannot solve long-term, entangled problems with short-term, control-oriented strategies. Instead, we need to learn how to play the long game.Introducing the concept of Traction: Strategy, Hope and the Future We Make, the book equips leaders, organizations and institutions with a new strategic language built around three core ideas: North Star (purpose and orientation), Crux (focus where commitment matters most), and Tactics (distributed, adaptive action on the ground). Drawing on history, philosophy, strategy, and real-world examples across business, politics and society, it reimagines strategy not as a static plan, but as a living practice for creating sustainable futures.