“Our company has a short range and a long range plan. Our short range plan is to stay afloat long enough to make it to our long range plan.” – Anonymous One of the challenges I hear leaders mention on a regular basis relates to planning. Our businesses are faced with so much change that … Read more
“Nobody ever wrote down a plan to broke…lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan.” – Larry Winget I had a very engaging conversation with someone a few weeks ago about strategy development and planning. The core question was, given the rate at which our world is currently changing, … Read more
“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.” – J.R.R. Tolkien We spend a lot of time as organizations (hopefully) talking about the future. And, to most people’s credit, it’s usually a positive conversation. Most leaders are excited about the future for their business. Most … Read more
“If you don’t drive your business, you will be driven out of business.” – B.C. Forbes I recently spent some time with a business owner in our area. He’s a nice guy, but it was exhausting. His view of the world is pretty simple: everyone else has resources I don’t have, I can’t possibly compete … Read more
“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” – Alvin Toffler Quite often when people are inquiring about someone’s business, they’ll ask, “Are you keeping busy?” Usually the person will respond with some comment to the effect that yes, they’re … Read more
“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” – George Patton Not that long ago I was visiting with a local business owner, one we’ve been fortunate enough to work with over the years. Eventually our conversation ended up on the topic of his management team. He got really excited talking about how great … Read more
“Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.” – Winston Churchill As leaders, a big part of our job is thinking about the future. Unfortunately, too often that thinking becomes worrying, complaining, stressing, obsessing, energy destroying – you get the picture. I’ve been involved way too many management team meetings where all I did … Read more
“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” – Michael Porter We live in a world that likes to measure worth by accomplishments. We’re always talking about what we’ve done, about what goals our businesses have achieved, by what items we’ve crossed off our to-do lists. It’s implied that the more things we … Read more
“When you’re through changing, you’re through.” – Bruce Fairchild Barton I’m a huge sports fan. I’ve probably spent more time playing & watching sports than all my other leisure activities combined. It’s always interesting to watch teams that seem to have an identity. They know who they are, they know their strengths and weaknesses, and … Read more
“If you don’t think every day is a good day, just try missing one.” – Cavett Robert Over the past year I spent (wasted?) a fair amount of time trying to help a particular local business owner. Finally, after several months of misguided effort, I finally managed to end our business relationship. It took me … Read more
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