It's easier to plan when everything isn't circling the drain. Planning in an emotionally charged state can lead to panic and a focus on random tactics instead of a well thought out strategy with robust goals and a practical set of steps to reach those goals.
The beginning of the year is always a good time to take stock and to set the agenda for the coming year. I'm not talking about those benighted New Year's resolution that you broke before the bubbles left the champagne...I'm talking about a real, WRITTEN plan with concrete MEASURES of Dollars, Dates and Do-ables.
Speaking of planning, this Request For Proposal came across my desk recently:
Government Seeks Small Business to Supply Strategic Planning Services
That headline in an email got my attention immediately. I kept reading and it sounded more and more intriguing as I raced through the details. I stopped for a moment when it said the firm would need top security clearance. But I didn't think that would be a problem. After all, my book, Success Planning: A 'How-To' Guide for Strategic Planning, is used by one of the US military's war colleges...
So I kept on reading and thinking about what they were requesting and how my company fit all the requirements. Finally I got to the last line where they let the cat out of the bag...
Special Offer for New Strategic Leadership Book
My new book on strategic leadership (Conventional Wisdom: How Today's Leaders Plan, Perform and Progress Like the Founding Fathers) is due out in 2008 and it's packed with practical useful information from a group of remarkable CEOs and executives. The book also taps into the strategic planning secrets of the US Constitutional Framers.
Want to get a pre-publication preview in the next few months? I'm going to make some excerpts available to you ahead of the official publication date. Send a request to be on the list to this email address: ConventionWisdom@cs.com.
Strategic Advantage is shifting to the blogosphere
As companies' email filtering systems become more and more robust, it becomes almost impossible to get newsletters through to my friends, clients, seminar participants and the thousands of others who have subscribed to my newsletter over the years. So going forward, I'll be using my blog more and more to keep you informed about new information you can use. Please add it to your favorites and visit it. I'll be updating it once a month for now...and more often later on. http://conventionalwisdominstitute.blogspot.com/
Start Planning Your 2008 Success Today
My existing strategic planning book (
Success Planning: A 'How-To' Guide for Strategic Planning) just entered a new printing with demand coming from companies, colleges and even the US Army War College. You can find it on
www.Amazon.com where it's often near the top (search for
Strategic Planning or
Success Planning.) Of course you can get it directly from my website:
www.AdvantageLeadership.com/book.html
We work with companies and organizations that are ready to improve their results through strategic leadership, planning and execution. Keep in touch to get our latest helpful information to improve your own strategic leadership, planning and plan execution.
www.AdvantageLeadership.com
Contact Us:
Rebecca Staton-Reinstein, Ph.D., President
Advantage Leadership, Inc.
633 NE 167th Street, Suite 1015
North Miami Beach, FL 33162
Phone: 305-652-3466 Fax: 305-652-3866
