The Manager's Handbook

18The Operating Plan

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

—Abraham Lincoln

Mike Flint had been Warren Buffett's pilot for over a decade and was thinking about the next chapter in his career. When he asked his boss for some advice, Buffet told him to write down his top 25 life goals. A few days later, Flint showed him the list. Buffett barely glanced at it. Instead, he told Flint to circle the top five. When Flint finished, Buffet told him, “Everything you didn't circle just became your Avoid‐At‐All‐Cost list. These things get no attention from you until you've succeeded with your top five.”

The lesson from Buffet is that prioritizing is not saying “no” to unattractive ideas. Prioritization is a willingness to also say “no” to the attractive ideas. But this is difficult for ambitious and creative managers because they make the mistake of thinking that their whole list could get completed if only their organization could keep up with all their ideation. The problem with this is that the pace at which you come up with good ideas will always outrun your organization's ability to implement them. It's not because your team is incapable of moving fast. It's that while ideation can happen on the drive home from work, implementation requires concrete acts like hiring people, buying equipment, identifying suppliers, and integrating these initiatives into your accounting systems—all while running the existing business.

Because of ...