Rockefeller Taught Me About Strategic Planning | LAYC 95

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Hello, and welcome back.

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I'm Isabel Alexander, and as I promised, I am here to continue this mini

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series about strategic planning and why it's vital to SMEs, small, medium

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sized businesses, and solopreneurs.

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In fact, it's vital to every organization that wants to be sustainable.

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that wants to grow and continue to have value to its clients, its stakeholders.

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The Encore Catalyst makes it possible to share this podcast with you

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and hopefully share some value to help you get more of everything

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that you want from your business.

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So the first episode on this theme of strategic planning, I

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shared my feelings around why it is so vital for small businesses.

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entrepreneurs to have a strategic plan.

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So, if you didn't get that, circle back.

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It's just not too far back in the history here.

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Shortly afterwards, I shared that I'd heard from my audience, my clients,

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said, "You were pretty passionate about that, that we should have a strategic

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plan, but you didn't really tell us how."

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which brought me to saying, I promise that I will, and the why I know this is

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important was my journey, my discovery of reaching a point in my own company

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where I had reached the level of my own experience, capability, confidence,

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hiring an expensive business consultant.

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The most important thing I learned from him was about a book called

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Mastering the Rockefeller Habits that was written by Verne Harnish and it's

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still a top selling business book.

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I recommend that you buy the book and you keep it as a treasured

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resource on your bookshelf.

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But if you're not ready to add reading yet another business book to your list,

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then I'm going to give you a little deeper dive than Cole's notes, but I'm

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going to give you the highlights of why that book and the process that I learned

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using that book was so valuable to me and also explain some of my own personal

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circumstances that evolved from that.

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So today.

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In the third of the series on strategic planning, I want to talk to you, briefly

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about core values, which is a foundational piece in creating a strategic plan,

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which is surprising, I know, because it sounds like it's kind of woo woo,

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soft, touchy, pinky, furry stuff, but it's not, I promise you, it's Fucking

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important ironclad stuff that you need to know about, need to think about.

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I'm going to talk to you about the next step that we go through in that process,

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and that's really getting clarity around your purpose and your mission.

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And it's not going to be the same old Ya-Ya-Ya platitudes that you hear

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about your purpose or your mission.

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I promise, stay tuned.

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And the third thing that we will address just high level today is beehags.

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And I'll talk to you about why you need to have that, even if

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you don't think you want to.

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All right, so let's roll with this!

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First and foremost, before you can make any meaningful plan for your business,

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you must embrace the fact that your business was built on your core values.

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And if it isn't, if your actions aren't aligned with what you believe

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is right and wrong, the way the world should operate, the way people

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should treat each other, then you're always going to feel uncomfortable

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and yucky and you're going to have resistance going on within yourself.

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You're going to say, oh, fuck, I wish I hadn't done that because I can't sleep.

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I don't feel good.

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My stomach's burning or that bit me in the ass.

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And you're going to have an impossible time building a team that are loyal

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and committed and clear about what the organization's values are.

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And further, you're going to have a very hard time, you're going

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to make a lot of mistakes around choosing who are the clients that are

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loyal and will become Raving Fans.

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Trust me, I know this from personal experience and you're going to have

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a hard time choosing suppliers that are loyal and dedicated and aligned

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with the values that you have and therefore providing the services

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and the support to help you succeed.

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I cannot stress enough how incredibly vital it is being very clear about

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your values, current, updated, refreshed, bought into, locked in,

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and how they are imprinted throughout your organization when you're a

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small business or a solopreneur.

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Stop and think about that for a minute.

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If you are the person who created the business, or primarily, or a major

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influence in the business, your values are imprinted across the organization.

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And when the organization acts in a manner that is conflicting or abrasive to your

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values, you're going to have an impossible time leading and making decisions.

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Now, that's a lot to chew on, and I'm happy to talk to you about that

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more if you want to reach out and have an Encore session with me.

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In the show notes, you'll find out how to do that.

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But in the meantime, please just be thinking about that.

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Every single important decision that you will make for your company starts with

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what is deeply in your personal values.

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Okay, so that's number one, core values.

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Number two in the

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The Rockefeller Habits, the strategic plan format

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was purpose

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or mission.

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Guess what?

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You cannot properly articulate a purpose or a mission for your company that

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conflicts with, opposes your values.

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It's just not a sustainable behavior or approach.

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So that is why being clear about your core values.

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then crafting a very purposeful mission statement and vision

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for the future of your company.

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And we'll come back to vision a bit more in the next section.

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When you're clear on your values and that drives what you All of these work for you.

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do the Why You Do It and Who You Do It For Then you can inspire

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and motivate your team, partners, customers, suppliers, everybody.

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And that makes it so easy.

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You are swimming with the current.

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The third part about creating a strategic plan that is really result driven.

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viable, and will propel your organization forward is having B Hags.

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Now, if you don't know what that term means, it's big,

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hairy, audacious goals, B Hags.

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And that sounds like it might be some character from Toy Story, but

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a BHAG is a really ambitious, long term, out there, visionary goal.

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that is deeply rooted in your core values, that is overarching

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your purpose and your mission.

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And it's really important for you to have that, because you know if you

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don't shoot for the moon, you will not land upon the stars, and every major

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corporation, every successful entity and individual in the world had lofty

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goals that they were shooting for.

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That's an essential part of creating the strategic plan that's got the short term,

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smaller, mid term, longer range goals.

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And it's also pretty damn exciting when you allow yourself to go,

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what if I started to think about my company, my leadership in terms

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of achieving those BHAGs, how would I behave differently today?

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How would I start behaving today as a leader?

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What decisions would I make differently?

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What actions would I take differently?

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What things would I say no to?

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And that's why having a BHAG, or more than one, but at least

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one, is really important.

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Okay, so I understand.

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This is a lot to think about, to chew on and absorb, and I'm going to leave you

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with that so that you have some time, I hope, to be thinking about this as

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you prepare for your The New Year, and maybe as you've ordered the book and

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you're waiting for it to be delivered, but I promise you I'm going to be back

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to you in the very, very next episode of this mini series to talk to you about

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the next three steps to prepare, to create an absolutely powerful, perfect

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for you and the next stage of your life and your business strategic plan.

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Stick with me.

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Come on back soon.

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Bye.