It has to be beautiful!

WHAT DO YOU THINK when I say “business plan”?

Chances are you describe it with adjectives like overwhelming, tedious, and confusing.

Those kinds of descriptions will quickly put the whole exercise of business planning at the bottom of your list. After all, who wants tedium and overwhelm? It’s just easier to work on the day-to-day issues which are constantly swirling around like gnats.

What if business planning was joyful and amazing?

That’s why I always start with my clients’ personal and business goals, with as much positive emotion as possible:

• I want my business to be prized for making our community a better place.
• I’m creating an organization where people are happy to come to work every day, where they respect and value their co-workers.
• I could see myself retiring to a little villa on the Mediterranean, surrounded by my loved ones.

Each of these has a sense of beauty, joy, and purpose.

Ponder the picture up above, and the talented artist working from a photo on his cell phone. We could focus on the fact that there’s a whole lot of work going into producing this masterpiece, but each individual stroke isn’t critical. It’s the artist’s eye toward conveying the overall picture with passion and beauty.

Our business planning can take the same philosophy. Yes, there’s a lot of details to work through. But if we lose the joy and passion of a compelling mission – what’s the point? It’s just a job.

Your role as leader is to keep reminding everyone – including yourself – that there’s something much more important going on than just attending to problems and turning the crank.

You’re making the world better in your own particular way.