One way that reality bites is when plans should go one way, but somehow take a detour and go another way in a totally wrong direction that leads to a dead-end. When this happens, we scratch our heads and wonder if somehow we woke up in the middle of “Opposite Day.”

Research tells us that successful organizations have great focus in at least two key areas: They develop their managers, and align their culture (teams, departments, operations) to their strategy.