When I was a junior in
college, two fraternity
brothers and I embarked on a Florida spring break vacation in search of the elusive
“spring break experience” we
had seen in the movies.
Needless to say, we never
found it. And beyond remembering that I actually went on
this vacation, there wasn’t anything memorable about the trip.
That’s partially because our
game plan was pretty bare
bones — we booked a hotel,
packed our bags, jumped into
my car and drove to Florida
with no idea about what we
would do once we reached our
destination. We had, to be blunt,
failed miserably to plan ahead.
You can never say too much
about the value of planning.
Without it, your business is nothing more
than a rudderless
ship afloat in a vast
ocean. You, as its
leader, aren’t much
better off because
you don’t know
which way to point
the ship.
With planning, it’s a
different story. Suddenly, you’re
armed with a map that will lead
you on a targeted quest toward
a stated goal.
This month’s cover story on
John Stropki, chairman, president
and CEO of venerable Cleveland
manufacturer Lincoln Electric,
goes straight to that point.
Stropki, who led Lincoln
Electric to more than $1 billion
in revenue growth over the past three years, claims
the key to effective
planning is balancing
long-term goals with
short-term objectives.
“It’s a compromise,” he says.
Part of that compromise is soliciting
input from your
employees and developing strong channels of internal
communication that allow you
to fine-tune and focus the plan.
Communication is also the
mantra of this month’s Smart
Leaders subject, McDonald
Hopkins’ Carl Grassi. Grassi
assumed the leadership role of
the 250-employee law firm after
the untimely death of his predecessor, Joseph LoPresti, and his
first task was getting the organization past the mourning and
back to business.
“Face-to-face communication
is still the most effective way to
have people relate,” Grassi says.
“You cannot replace the benefits
of it.”
When you effectively communicate within your organization,
you’re well on your way to
understanding how to develop
and execute a plan that will take
you from where you are today to
where you want to be tomorrow.
As for my vacation, had we
developed a plan for the trip,
maybe I’d have a college spring
break vacation actually worth
spinning stories about.
Contact Editor Dustin Klein at
[email protected]
