Bumps In the Road

so, the economy is gaining strength, your business is growing, and you are thinking about building a business strategy to cope with future growth.  good idea, but in itself it is incomplete.

we live in a business world of lumps and bumps, ups and downs, booms and busts.  as the chart below indicates, the next recession and associated business/consumer panic is just around the corner.

it is only a matter of time, and not much time at that, until the next downturn impacts your business.

that is exactly why business strategy today must be built upon "what ifs", with a core direction and at least two to three potential tweaks or modifications to that direction (inflection points) based upon economic and competitive trip wires.

the inflexible business with a plan and a tunnel vision looking forward is dead meat in today's marketplace.  it's like flying an airplane; you must always be looking up, down, left and right and you need to know what your next move is when you see opponents in any of those views.

business strategy today is a living process, tied to inflection points in the environment around us.