Brooks International CEO challenges leaders to rethink competitive advantage

Lui Damasceno, CEO of operational consultancy Brooks International, in a recent Chief Executive article argues that most organizations fail because of broken operating models rather than poor strategy.

In a new article published in Chief Executive Magazine, Damasceno contends that the majority of organizations already possess strong strategies – but consistently underperform because they lack the operating models required to execute them.

“The leaders who consistently outperform their peers are not better strategists,” says Damasceno, who has advised more than 220 CEOs across 23 countries. “They are better architects. They build organizations where strategy reaches the frontline intact – where execution is clear, measurable, and accountable.”

The Root Cause of Underperformance

Damasceno identifies three structural breakdowns that derail execution in even the most well-resourced organizations:

Decision rights: In many organizations, decisions are made by hierarchy or persistence rather than by design. The result: slow execution, misplaced authority, and blurred accountability.

Performance rhythms: Traditional performance management looks backward at results rather than forward at outcomes. High-performing organizations implement early-warning rhythms that surface issues in time to intervene – not after the damage is done.

Accountability structures: Genuine accountability is not cultural or aspirational; it is structural. Execution-oriented organizations define ownership explicitly and enforce consequences consistently.

Three Questions Every CEO Must Answer

Damasceno challenges CEOs to pressure-test their organizations with three diagnostic questions:

1) Are decision rights aligned with strategy – or are key decisions made too high, too slowly, or by the wrong people?
2) Does performance management provide early warning signals – or just post-mortem explanations?
3) Is accountability structurally embedded – or dependent on individual leadership intensity?

“If the answers to those questions are uncomfortable, that is the work,” Damasceno adds. “Not another strategy refresh, culture initiative, or technology investment.”

A Defining Shift in Executive Thinking

The article delivers a pointed message for today’s business environment: strategy sets the destination, but the operating model determines whether the organization ever arrives.

“The operating model is the CEO’s responsibility,” Damasceno concludes. “Leaders who understand that – and act on it – are the ones whose organizations deliver consistently.”