Managing away 16-hour days

The road to freedom

The following is an excerpt from Clay Mathile’s latest book, “Run Your Business, Don’t Let It Run You.”

Strategic planning has gotten a bad rap with some business owners. You value flexibility and freedom, and you’re concerned that a strategic plan will constrain you, clip your wings, strip away your entrepreneurial spirit, and ability to act. The notion of committing to a plan smacks of a bureaucracy you want to avoid.

But the truth is strategic planning sets you free. Plugging along in the daily grind of activity, micromanaging, and putting out fires will handcuff you and limits your business’s growth. It prevents everyone from taking initiative and contributing toward achieving success. With too close an eye on the short term, and no time or plan for the long term, you have little chance of success. You need a strategy, and here’s why: Strategy gets everyone going in the same direction and keeps everyone moving in that direction, making progress toward your goal.

Develop the habit of planning. The harsh truth is if you don’t have a plan, you plan to fail. Learn to see into the future; project and envision where your company might be. Plans shift and change in response to changes in the environment. That is why business leaders need to think of planning as ongoing, more of a habit or routine than a one-time activity. Business leaders need to pay attention and build a deep, broad platform of knowledge and questions for perspective, understanding, and discernment. The best plans are derived from a perpetual habit of learning and building a knowledge base.

Develop the art of asking questions. Questions are the keys to thinking strategically. You may begin with simple questions, such as:

• What do customers buy from me today?
• What will my customers want in 10 years?

Other questions will help you see into the future, chart a course, and help determine how you’ll get there:

• What is the current reality of my business and marketplace?
• What is the future reality?
• Where do we want to be in the future?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses in my organization?
• What are potential opportunities?
• What capacity do we have to explore opportunities?
• What is our competitive advantage?
• What holds our company back?

To do justice to these questions, you will also need to think about your personal vision, a statement that identifies what you want from your business. This will inspire you to think about your personal values. What is important to you? Thinking through your values will help you formulate a vision for your company. What do you want your company to stand for?

As the former owner of Iams, our vision was “to be the world leader in dog and cat nutrition.” It took us a while to articulate that succinctly, but over time and through the habit of planning, it became clearer. In addition to a vision statement and values, you will want to define your mission. Your mission is what you do every day. It summarizes your reason for existing. Our mission at Iams was “to enhance the well-being of dogs and cats by producing world-class, quality foods.” If you stick to your mission, the result will be the realization of your vision.

If you look at your vision, mission, current reality, and future reality, what are the issues that you must pursue in order to progress toward your vision? These are your make-or-break issues. Seek insight from people you respect, who can provide a different perspective, it’s best not to do this in a vacuum. What might be possible for your company, you, and your team if you step back and ask hard questions, think them through, and develop a strategic plan?