Yesterday morning, I received an unexpected phone call from a former colleague I haven’t spoken with in about a year. He wanted to talk about the planning exercise I ran at his company through a few years ago, and he opened our call by shouting: “I got it!”
My caller friend, you see, was one of the top performers at a high-flying financial services firm I did a project for. The planning exercise encompassed all aspects of business strategy and organizational construct. Mind you, my caller friend (like most in the room at that time!), thought the project was utterly useless. In the go-go days of 2006, I vividly remember him saying: “Who needs this stuff? All we need to do is deals. That’s it, just do deals…that’s what we live for…everything else is just a waste of time.”
Fortunately, his company ownership and executive management recognized there was more to running a successful business than a series of transactions and so they instituted measures that have served them particularly well to this point.
As the economy has melted down, their company is more than holding its own. In fact, the gentleman who called me this morning was so put off by the organizational changes being made back then, never accepted there was anything more to life than deals, left the company to start his own venture.
The true purpose of his call yesterday morning? While he and his partners had done pretty well they were now really struggling and he thought about it, and NOW they’d like me to do a project for them. Yup, that same comprehensive strategic planning exercise he had “no use for” a few years ago s now something he really does need after all. To me, this is the best sign that the global economy is heading back in the right direction!