COMPASS / THE BOOK

Compass

An Operating Model for
Adaptive Strategy Execution

Ahmed Elnahas

Paperback · 247 pages · ISBN 979-8184902296 · Published 14 September 2026

Most strategies do not fail in the boardroom. They fade in execution.

The book is the foundation of the Compass body of work: a practical operating model for keeping strategic intent connected to organisational movement.

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Compass: An Operating Model for Adaptive Strategy Execution, by Ahmed Elnahas

What the book addresses.

How does an organisation maintain direction without freezing its plans?

Compass examines how strategic meaning is lost between leadership intent and everyday execution, and how capabilities, objectives, contributions and evidence can keep that meaning intact.

It connects operating practice with its human realities: ownership, resistance, political power, empowerment and trust.

Who it is for.

Senior leaders responsible for strategic direction. Technology and transformation leaders translating ambition into change. Strategy advisers, PMO leaders and practitioners connecting contributions across organisational layers.

It is also for readers who have seen frameworks come and go, and want to understand the conditions under which a different operating logic could work—or should not be introduced.

Journey through Compass

  1. Part I

    Movement and Navigation

    Understand why activity and movement are not the same, and why organisations need navigation rather than static execution plans.

  2. Part II

    Setting the Course

    Connect strategic direction to the capabilities that need to strengthen or change.

  3. Part III

    Activating the System

    Translate capability priorities into objectives, contribution, evidence and organisational movement.

  4. Part IV

    Leading the Navigation

    Create the leadership, trust and organisational conditions that allow the system to work.

  5. Part V

    Navigation in Practice

    See how Compass operates in real organisational situations and changing conditions.

Compass and AI Transformation

AI transformation goes beyond adopting tools or scaling pilots. It changes how organisations create value, make decisions and operate. Chapter 20, “Navigating AI Transformation,” applies the Compass operating model to this shift—not as a separate framework, but through the capabilities the organisation must evolve.

The chapter explores the move from AI-first to AI-native: redesigning capabilities around people and intelligent systems, with progress measured by capability evolution rather than adoption or pilot counts. AI can accelerate movement; it does not provide strategic direction.

Ideas at the heart
of Compass.

  • Capability movement — what the organisation becomes able to do.
  • Strategic and Diagnostic lenses — understand what must change.
  • DPOT — see the whole capability.
  • Capability-anchored Objectives — give movement direction.
  • Contribution & Inheritance — preserve intent across layers.
  • Evidence & Confidence — inform the next decision.
Explore the model

From reading to practice.

Explore the ideas with your leadership team through one of the three Compass workshops.

Discuss a Compass workshop