Purpose This study examines the velocity trap in which organizations optimize execution speed while strategic relevance deteriorates, and introduces the Strategic Event Horizon and Velocity Gambit as a structured rescue maneuver for senior leaders. Design/methodology/approach Conceptual, practice-grounded article drawing on the Standish Group’s CHAOS Report (n = 50,000 projects), dual practitioner surveys (n = 105), and case study (n = 25, 12 interviews), interpreted through Red Queen competition theory, Boyd’s OODA Loop, and Lean Startup literature. Findings A 36-percentage-point gap separates projects hitting targets (57%) from those achieving strategic goals (21%), illustrating systematic velocity-value decoupling. The supporting case material surfaces the work vs improvement dichotomy as a recurring constraint, while the Velocity Gambit organizes Boyd’s OODA Loop into a four-phase managerial decision protocol. An illustrative cloud-native platform case shows how the protocol can be applied in practice. Research limitations/implications The evidence base is illustrative rather than confirmatory: the case evidence is single-site, the surveys are convenience-sampled, and the CHAOS data remains proprietary. Future work should test the framework across industries and with longitudinal designs. Practical implications This study provides diagnostic indicators for velocity-value decoupling, a four-phase OODA-mapped intervention, organizational readiness prerequisites, and governance guardrails. The velocity trap extends beyond financial costs to burnout and talent attrition. Originality/value This study formalizes the Strategic Event Horizon, operationalizes Boyd’s OODA Loop for established firms, and bridges Red Queen theory with Lean Startup pivot protocols, providing decision architecture where psychological substrates prevent incremental self-correction.
John Fly (Fri,) studied this question.