Comments on: Dissing Plan B http://biggsuccess.com/2009/03/10/dissing-plan-b/ Life On Your Own Terms Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:01:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: George Krueger http://biggsuccess.com/2009/03/10/dissing-plan-b/comment-page-1/#comment-7778 George Krueger Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:13:52 +0000 http://biggsuccess.com/?p=1623#comment-7778 Fred – Thanks for your thoughtful comment. The reason Steve Harvey’s quote resonated with me is a friend who became a multi-millionaire as a business owner. He left a job with a large corporation where he was on track for a C-level position. When he left, they gave him his Plan B – they told him he was always welcome back. He told me that having that security blanket almost kept him from succeeding. Because in his early days of business ownership, every time he faced significant adversity, that offer would come to his mind. Fortunately for him, he never accepted it. So the focus of this six-minute show really wasn’t planning. It’s about the mindset we must have once our planning is done and we move to execution. To try to allay any fears of me being an “armchair general” or “Monday morning quarterback”, I have been in the trenches of business ownership for about 27 years now and taught entrepreneurship at our local University for over 15. However, I do not have any military experience, but thank you for serving our country so nobly. In that time, I have witnessed hundreds, more likely thousands, of business start-ups and acquisitions. I have seen success and failure. When I have erred, I have erred by planning too much. “Ready, aim, aim, aim.” I have learned from this. However, I am still a strong advocate of business planning. I also believe that, the more we have at risk, the more time we should spend planning. But at some point planning must end so action can begin. Because that’s the only way we learn the reality of the situation we face. We recently launched a business with Contingency Plans from A to Z. However, when we got to market, we found that we really needed to revise Plan A. We would have never learned had we not launched. Because studies, focus groups, surveys, interviews, etc. are all valuable, but they are also all hypothetical. We’re asking “would” instead of “will.” We really only learn how our customers will respond when we ask them to spend their money. Like many factors that lead to success, there’s a delicate balance at play. We risk failure if we don’t spend enough time planning. We risk failure if we plan too much and never act. And once we act, we must use every ounce of energy to make our plan work. Fred –

Thanks for your thoughtful comment.

The reason Steve Harvey’s quote resonated with me is a friend who became a multi-millionaire as a business owner. He left a job with a large corporation where he was on track for a C-level position. When he left, they gave him his Plan B – they told him he was always welcome back. He told me that having that security blanket almost kept him from succeeding. Because in his early days of business ownership, every time he faced significant adversity, that offer would come to his mind. Fortunately for him, he never accepted it.

So the focus of this six-minute show really wasn’t planning. It’s about the mindset we must have once our planning is done and we move to execution.

To try to allay any fears of me being an “armchair general” or “Monday morning quarterback”, I have been in the trenches of business ownership for about 27 years now and taught entrepreneurship at our local University for over 15. However, I do not have any military experience, but thank you for serving our country so nobly.

In that time, I have witnessed hundreds, more likely thousands, of business start-ups and acquisitions. I have seen success and failure.

When I have erred, I have erred by planning too much. “Ready, aim, aim, aim.” I have learned from this. However, I am still a strong advocate of business planning. I also believe that, the more we have at risk, the more time we should spend planning.

But at some point planning must end so action can begin. Because that’s the only way we learn the reality of the situation we face. We recently launched a business with Contingency Plans from A to Z. However, when we got to market, we found that we really needed to revise Plan A. We would have never learned had we not launched.

Because studies, focus groups, surveys, interviews, etc. are all valuable, but they are also all hypothetical. We’re asking “would” instead of “will.” We really only learn how our customers will respond when we ask them to spend their money.

Like many factors that lead to success, there’s a delicate balance at play. We risk failure if we don’t spend enough time planning. We risk failure if we plan too much and never act. And once we act, we must use every ounce of energy to make our plan work.

]]> By: Fred http://biggsuccess.com/2009/03/10/dissing-plan-b/comment-page-1/#comment-7773 Fred Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:39:49 +0000 http://biggsuccess.com/?p=1623#comment-7773 Giving words of advice on plan A and Plan B-type of approaches appeared to me to be the "armchair general" or the "Monday Morning Quarterback" of entrepreneurs and small business owners. By that, I mean that you should examine critical operations that succeeded or did not by the type of planning that was done. Logistics and planning are the specialty of key operations where many lives are at stake. Military invasions and assaults fall into this line. Cases in point--Look at Desert Storm in the early '90s--and you will see that planning with all sorts of alternatives (Plan A, B, etc.) led to making the right decisions depending upon what the outcome of certain other tasks that were being executed at the time. Also, look at operations that were created without a Plan B--case in Point, Operation Market Garden in 1944. In this case, a British Field Marshall drew up an egotistically-devised plan without any Plan B, and the result was a major setback (over 10,000 casualties without the main objective at Arnhem being taken) for the Allies, which is known as "A Magnificent Disaster" (David Bennett wrote the book with that title about the invasion and its lack of a Plan B). I, myself, have been a long proponent of Plan B for the right reason, done in the right way, and executed along the results for Plan A as they occur (remember: the best laid plans of mice and men...). And that has accounted for much success--but more, for avoiding the unrecoverable failures. I suggest, in my opinion, that you should devise your Plan A and put more time in creating that plan, as well as possible Plan B. Your podcast and Mr. Harvey's statements only bring to my mind that your planning was too quickly done, without being thorough enough, to include a Plan B for the right reason, and which should be implemented when monitoring the progress of your Plan A (your podcast suggests that no one is measuring or monitoring Plan A). As a combat veteran who was forced to implement Plan B many times to save the lives of my men and to accomplish the mission, I tend to investigate the background of those who make such statements as were described in this podcast--most of the time, there is no military experience--just opinion. And, since this is merely my opinion offered to you from over 35 years of military and business experience, I will not argue with those who don't want to be confused with facts. My Plan B?...to work with, and to improve, the process and planning that has proven successful over the years. BTW, I first listened to your podcast series when Doug Welch was interviewed on your show. I do follow Doug and have been doing so for over 3 years. Thank you, FC Giving words of advice on plan A and Plan B-type of approaches appeared to me to be the “armchair general” or the “Monday Morning Quarterback” of entrepreneurs and small business owners. By that, I mean that you should examine critical operations that succeeded or did not by the type of planning that was done. Logistics and planning are the specialty of key operations where many lives are at stake.
Military invasions and assaults fall into this line. Cases in point–Look at Desert Storm in the early ’90s–and you will see that planning with all sorts of alternatives (Plan A, B, etc.) led to making the right decisions depending upon what the outcome of certain other tasks that were being executed at the time. Also, look at operations that were created without a Plan B–case in Point, Operation Market Garden in 1944. In this case, a British Field Marshall drew up an egotistically-devised plan without any Plan B, and the result was a major setback (over 10,000 casualties without the main objective at Arnhem being taken) for the Allies, which is known as “A Magnificent Disaster” (David Bennett wrote the book with that title about the invasion and its lack of a Plan B).
I, myself, have been a long proponent of Plan B for the right reason, done in the right way, and executed along the results for Plan A as they occur (remember: the best laid plans of mice and men…). And that has accounted for much success–but more, for avoiding the unrecoverable failures.
I suggest, in my opinion, that you should devise your Plan A and put more time in creating that plan, as well as possible Plan B. Your podcast and Mr. Harvey’s statements only bring to my mind that your planning was too quickly done, without being thorough enough, to include a Plan B for the right reason, and which should be implemented when monitoring the progress of your Plan A (your podcast suggests that no one is measuring or monitoring Plan A).
As a combat veteran who was forced to implement Plan B many times to save the lives of my men and to accomplish the mission, I tend to investigate the background of those who make such statements as were described in this podcast–most of the time, there is no military experience–just opinion.
And, since this is merely my opinion offered to you from over 35 years of military and business experience, I will not argue with those who don’t want to be confused with facts. My Plan B?…to work with, and to improve, the process and planning that has proven successful over the years.
BTW, I first listened to your podcast series when Doug Welch was interviewed on your show. I do follow Doug and have been doing so for over 3 years.
Thank you,
FC

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