Planning to Fail?

I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. – Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Early in my career, I was assigned a position to manage projects, which was a great experience for me. What I love about project management is that it mimics running a business. It includes sales, operations, marketing, HR, financial management and customer relations. That opportunity created a great foundation for my later position as a CEO.

In my role as a project manager, I can vividly remember my first big project. My initial reaction was excitement, but it didn’t take long for panic to set in. The project would include hundreds of tasks and dozens of team members. How in the world would I keep it all organized?

It just so happened that around that time I attended a technology conference. One of the sessions gave away door prizes so I dropped in my business card. At the end of the meeting, I was surprised to hear my name called, and was ecstatic to learn the prize was project management software.

What luck! A tool that organized hundreds of tasks and staff. It taught me the importance of planning, as well as the relationship between tasks, people, and dates.

Whether you are starting a business or are a seasoned executive, everyone needs a plan. I know what you’re thinking: I don’t have time and I need to start selling to make money. In fact, the opposite is true; you can’t afford not to plan. You’ve probably heard the cliché, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” which holds true. I’ve seen it too many times in my career.