By Richard Martin, Chief Strategist, Alcera Consulting Inc.
In a world that moves faster than institutions can adapt, leaders are expected to make high-consequence decisions amid uncertainty, pressure, and noise. But more information doesn’t mean better understanding. More activity doesn’t lead to more impact.
What separates real leadership from reactive noise is not speed or ambition. It’s discipline.
The Strategic Code is that discipline.
It offers a method—three moves that define how to think and act strategically under constraint:
See. Understand. Act.
Let’s explore each—using examples from the world we are living in now.
SEE — Cut Through the Noise to the Structure Beneath
Strategic perception begins not with data, but with discernment. The question is not “What is happening?” but “What matters, and why?”
Too often, leaders get stuck responding to headlines, metrics, and market mood. But strategy demands that we look past fluctuations and see the structure—the terrain, not the weather.
Consider the Red Sea shipping crisis of late 2023 through 2025.
As Houthi drone and missile attacks escalated, Western shipping giants rerouted vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. Media outlets focused on individual attacks, rate spikes, and diplomatic outrage. But those who saw clearly recognized something deeper: a global supply chain built for efficiency, not resilience, was now hostage to geopolitical chokepoints.
Maersk, for instance, suspended routes not just for safety—but because the entire logic of just-in-time global shipping was unraveling under sovereign contestation. The terrain had changed. Those who saw it began to rethink production geography, insurance models, and naval logistics.
To see strategically is to perceive:
- Where sovereignty is shifting
- What constraints are becoming binding
- Which assumptions no longer hold
- Where the freedom to manoeuvre is expanding or shrinking
UNDERSTAND — Interpret Position, Power, and Constraint
Once you see clearly, you must interpret wisely. Strategic understanding is about grasping how structure creates outcomes. It is not analysis for its own sake—it is orientation within a system of limits, actors, and forces.
In 2024, OpenAI’s leadership crisis illustrated this principle.
The sudden ouster and then reinstatement of Sam Altman as CEO triggered global attention. Superficially, this was about board dynamics and corporate governance. But those who understood the deeper terrain saw a structural conflict between accelerationists—those racing to dominate AGI—and safety advocates, concerned with existential risk and public accountability.
This wasn’t just a personality drama—it exposed the incoherence of institutional models for governing frontier technology. Altman’s rapid return—with Microsoft’s backing—signaled where power truly lay: not in OpenAI’s board, but in the alignment between capital, infrastructure, and regulatory ambiguity.
To understand strategically means recognizing:
- Who can say yes or no—and why
- Which structures are resilient, and which are brittle
- How institutional narratives mask real incentives
- When symbolic action masks strategic retreat
ACT — Move Through Constraint to Reshape the Terrain
Once you’ve seen and understood, the challenge is to act—not generically, but decisively, within your constraint window.
Strategic action is not just about solving problems—it’s about positioning. You may not be able to win now, but you can alter the field so that you can win later.
Take Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb in June 2025.
Rather than attempt a costly counteroffensive along hardened front lines, Ukraine deployed over 100 FPV drones deep inside Russian territory, targeting bomber bases and military airfields. The operation didn’t just destroy hardware—it fractured the myth of Russian sanctuary, forced reallocation of air defense systems, and exposed Russia’s inability to secure its vast interior.
This was a classic guerrilla action, because Ukrainian leadership it understood the country’s capabilities and position. Lacking strategic airpower, it found a way to impose cost on Russia’s strategic triad through asymmetric means. The attack reshaped Russian deterrent posture and triggered internal command friction.
To act strategically means:
- Exploiting leverage without overextending
- Accepting constraint and moving within it
- Choosing the mode (cooperative, competitive, adversarial) that fits the moment
- Setting conditions for future initiative—not just present reaction
Why This Framework Matters in 2025
The global terrain is shifting fast:
- Sovereignty is reasserting itself, from resource nationalism to border politics.
- Technology governance is fragmenting, with national AI policies diverging and semiconductors now under direct state control.
- Industrial policy is back, not as economic theory but as national grand strategy.
- Public trust is eroding, while executive decision-making becomes more exposed, politicized, and constrained.
You can no longer afford to treat strategy as a once-a-year planning exercise.
You need a daily practice—a disciplined triad:
See the terrain. Understand your position. Act through constraint.
This is the heart of The Strategic Code.
About the Author
Richard Martin is the founder and president of Alcera Consulting Inc., and the creator of The Strategic Code—a doctrine for leaders navigating volatility, constraint, and conflict.
His mission is simple: equip leaders to exploit change and achieve strategic coherence. Through his advisory work, writing, and tools, he helps senior decision-makers see clearly, understand deeply, and act decisively in high-stakes environments.
Richard is the author of Brilliant Manoeuvres: How to Use Military Wisdom to Win Business Battles, and the developer of Strategic Epistemology and Worldview Warfare—frameworks that decode the beliefs, values, and power structures shaping strategic action in a contested world.
www.exploitingchange.com
© 2025 Richard Martin
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