Planning Your Next Five Moves
If you haven’t read it already, read the book, Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy, by Patrick Bet-David. I highly recommend it.
Every employee within a company should know where you are heading next. And they should know how they are going to get there. Simply put, this is strategy. Everyone should not only know what we are working on now, but we also should know what are the next big milestones that need to be completed to reach your destination.
Master Knowing Yourself - Looking in the future; where you want to be
Master the Ability to Reason - Use Data; not just emotion
Master building the right team - We use Gallup Clifton Strengths to identity what talents that we need in our future to succeed
Master strategy to scale - Can you run your biz without you there? The great CEOs learn to fill-in the missing pieces and this adds value to your biz if you want to sell it in the future
Master power plays - Take calculated risks using the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule. We have a tool to identify which value drivers will create the most value BEFORE you start working on it.
Use these 5 key strategies to help grow the value of yourself and your business.
Patrick highlights 5-key principles to scale your business. Here are the 5-key principles and this is how we apply them at 40 Strategy with our clients:
Master Knowing Yourself: It's crucial to understand what you want and to start acting like the person you aim to be from the beginning. Whether you're aspiring to be a great programmer or lead a successful company, adopting the mindset and behaviors of your desired role early on is fundamental.
We believe, finding your vision of who you want to be in the future and what it will look like as a result of your contributions. We believe in looking further than your strategic plan, 5 to 10 years in the future. Think Big!
Master the Ability to Reason: Effective problem-solving and decision-making are central to this move. It involves developing the skill to process issues, make decisions based on available information, and take responsibility for outcomes. Embracing challenges, asking questions, and focusing on permanent solutions are part of becoming a great processor.
When possible, use data to support your decision-making. Continue to ask yourself what could we be doing better. Strive to be curious. Earlier in my career, I was just focused on solving the problem. Today, I ask more questions to provide clarity as to why and is there a better way to solve the problem - not just your first instinct.
Master Building the Right Team: Success often hinges on working effectively with others. Building a team requires a focus on giving rather than taking, defining the benefits you offer, and understanding what motivates each team member, including recognizing their preferred "love languages" and creating a replacement game plan for key positions.
Regardless of your company size, whether you are a solopreneur, or running a $100 million dollar business, you have to find the right players on your team to maximize your effectiveness. We regularly use Gallup CliftonStrengths to analyze our current team's natural capabilities and understand our weaknesses. A team strengths matrix can help everyone communicate more effectively with each other.
Master Strategy to Scale: This involves making your business independent, reducing reliance on any single individual, and developing formal agreements and business systems that ensure the organization can grow and adapt over time.
One of the biggest challenges of entrepreneurs is letting go. It is a key value driver if you are considering selling your business, or actually take a vacation. An acquiring company sees greater value when the company can still run when the CEO is not around.
Master Power Plays: This encompasses a range of strategies from anticipation, playing offense with preemptive strikes, taking calculated risks, strategically positioning in the market, building a strategic network, making timely decisions, utilizing emotional intelligence, innovating and adapting to change, effective communication, and executing strategies with precision.
We are big believers in taking calculated risks. As we develop a strategic plan, we use the Pareto Principle, aka, the 80/20 rule to focus on the most key opportunities that will have the greatest potential impact combined with the greatest chance of success. According to SixSigma.com, the Pareto principle helps organizations make more informed decisions. However, we do recommend focusing on fewer strategies and getting them done well; rather than having too many and getting overwhelmed.
