Why Your Business Plan Doesn’t Work.

It’s all too easy to imagine that business is black and white.

That if you follow an exact seven steps you’ll be successful.

That sounds amazing, promising, like a plan you want to follow.

But it’s also completely delusional.

It just doesn’t work.

Sure in business school there are plans and case studies and the perfect strategy.  And when you combine them all together you have a solution to solve any problem.

But the reality is that that is business school, and your problem is just a paragraph or two on paper.  In the real world it’s not just a problem that you have to deal with.

You have to deal with people.

That’s where things begin to get a little more gray.  The simplest issues become complex when people are involved.

Which is why business problems aren’t really strategy problems. They aren’t really “having the right plan” problems.

All business problems are really leadership problems.

And it doesn’t matter what your plan or problem might be — as long as you’re leading.

Which isn’t a edict for you to go commando with your strategy.  You need a plan.

Being lazy doesn’t benefit anyone.

But almost always there is a plan and hopefully you know what it is (or once was).

Here’s the kicker — the plan really isn’t all that important.

What is important is the mission.  Your mission.

What is important is that everybody around you knows what your mission is — know why you do what you do.

1. That they understand your intentions, because you have explained them.
2. That they  understand your mistakes, because you admit them.
3. That they understand your attitude, because you are living it.

Any plan works when you lead.

Which sounds incredibly simple.  Almost ridiculous.

But that’s the truth behind most business breakthroughs.

What to fix your business plan?

Start leading.

Even the best plans fail.  So do the best leaders.  But a better leader is always better than the best plan.

Which might be the business plan you were looking for all along.