Don’t Let Zombies Run Amok In Your Business
Accelerate Innovation by Auditing What’s Holding You Back
Every organization has them. They’re not dramatic, and they don’t announce themselves — but they slowly eat away at resources, energy, and focus.
I call them zombies: slow-moving, brain-draining projects, processes, or expenses that no longer add real value but continue shambling forward because “that’s how we’ve always done it.”
The danger of zombies isn’t just wasted budget. It’s the distraction they create when you need to be agile, strategic, and focused on growth. In uncertain times especially, zombies drain your capacity to invest in what really matters.
During my recent Scrappy but Strategic webinar, I introduced the Zombie Hunt Audit—a simple exercise in ruthless clarity. The idea is to take a hard look at how your organization spends its time, money, and energy, and ask: Does this strengthen our strategy and value proposition, or not?
It’s not about cutting for the sake of cutting. It’s about reclaiming resources that can be redirected toward growth opportunities, customer needs, and new experiments that actually move the business forward.
When leaders commit to hunting down zombies, they often discover just how much capacity is tied up in legacy activities, outdated tools, and unexamined “must-dos.” Once exposed, these zombies can either be retired, restructured, or redirected to fuel more impactful work.
So how do you get started? Here are five recommendations:
Five Steps for Your Own Zombie Hunt
Revisit your strategic goals. Make sure everyone is aligned on what the business is actually trying to achieve right now.
Define your value proposition clearly. Ask: what problem are we solving, and why do customers choose us?
Map current spending and activities. Identify where time and money are going—then test each line item against strategy and value.
Call out the zombies. Look for legacy processes, unused tools, habitual sponsorships, or recurring projects that no longer deliver real returns.
Reallocate with intention. Redirect freed-up resources toward pilots, customer research, or growth initiatives that can generate momentum.
Zombies thrive in the shadows. Once you shine a light on them, you’ll be amazed at how much more room you have for fresh thinking, new experiments, and meaningful growth.
