From Lagos Business School to University of Texas: Akin Monehin’s new book redefines how leaders execute strategy

Nigerian transformation executive and author Akin Monehin has released a new strategy book that is already attracting global attention after strong early performance on Amazon charts in both the UK and the US.

The book, Execution Is a Lie: Why Real-World Strategy Always Fails and What to Do About It, expands on the practical frameworks Monehin has taught in executive classrooms at Lagos Business School, the University of Texas at Dallas, Kellogg School of Management and Chicago Booth School of Business.

These sessions, focused on execution discipline and leadership under pressure, set the foundation for the ideas now reaching a global audience.

Drawing on two decades of operational and transformation experience across Shell, NLNG, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways, Monehin argues that strategy consistently collapses not because leaders lack intelligence or intention, but because organisations fail to build the underlying mechanisms required for execution.

“Strategy does not fail in the boardroom,” he said. “It fails in the real world — where systems, signals and accountability must hold the weight of the plan. Without those, even brilliant strategies crumble.”

The book introduces two models that resonated strongly during his teaching engagements: the ALIGN™ Framework and the C3 Formula™. Both frameworks are designed to help leaders close the execution gap by building structural clarity, operational cadence and consequence-based accountability.

Executives and MBA students who encountered the material at LBS and UTD have praised its practicality, noting that the frameworks are grounded in real operational pressures — cost, performance, delivery, production, safety — rather than abstract theory.

Since release, Execution Is a Lie has continued to draw attention from business schools, transformation leaders and corporate strategy teams seeking modern execution tools for volatile environments. Commentators say its early chart performance reflects a growing appetite for African practitioners contributing meaningfully to global leadership conversations.

For Nigerian organisations confronting economic pressure, operational complexity and rising stakeholder expectations, the book arrives at a critical time.
Monehin positions execution not as motivation, but as infrastructure: a system of mechanisms that leaders must design, monitor and enforce.