A change-management tactic for bringing real focus (and thus Product Strategy) into an organization that currently lacks it: frame the introduction of focus as a reversible experiment rather than a permanent structural change. Framing it as reversible lowers the perceived risk of and resistance to trying it.
The specific focus area should ideally be chosen by leadership itself, rather than proposed and pushed by the product team — leadership picking its own focus area reduces political resistance compared to a bottom-up pitch.
Focus does not mean starving other work: keep-the-lights-on maintenance and tech debt remain separate, always-funded categories, untouched by the focus decision.
When introducing real focus to a leadership team that has never worked this way, frame it explicitly as a reversible test rather than a permanent commitment: propose trying the focused approach for a limited period, and say plainly that the org can revert to its old way of working if it doesn't help. This lowers the perceived risk of the ask and makes it easier for leadership to say yes than a demand to permanently abandon the old model would.
The safest way to introduce focus into an organization that has none is to have the CEO or leadership pick the one focus area themselves, rather than have the strategist hand down the choice. This halves the leap of faith required — leadership only has to trust that focusing (on something) is right, not also trust the strategist's specific pick of what to focus on.