Modify the strategies in light of new information

If we make a visit late in the fiscal year to one of those one-in-20 firms that creates a business plan, we’ll often encounter a flurry of activity. Goals will be established (“revenues will be 10 percent more than last year”), budgets will be assembled, and strategies will be created.

When it’s all done, it often will carry an atmosphere of finality usually reserved for the conclusion of a successful root canal (“well, at least that’s over”). This, of course, is exactly what we should expect.

After all, business owners have been taught for years that they should make a plan for the coming year, and the best time to do that is at the end of the previous year. And when it’s done, they won’t have ...

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