Leadership Conversations: Challenging High Potential Managers to Become Great Leaders

CHAPTER 21

Planning Successful Actions

Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. “Which road should I take?” she asked. “Where are you going?” he replied. “I don’t know.” Alice answered. “Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”

—LEWIS CARROLL, ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Virtually every executive says he has a plan for success—yet for many the plan is in their heads and not on paper. The reasons for not writing the plan range from a belief that others would not understand it, to not having sufficient time to write it, to being afraid that a plan will limit his options. Some ask, “Which is more important, taking action or spending time to plan?” Our response is that action by high potentials in the absence of a written-out, thoroughly ...