Bad Strategic Plans: How Not to Build a Flying Carpet

When I was five years old my cousin Bill and I created a strategic plan to build a flying carpet.  We wanted something that hovered over the ground about three feet (so not to be too dangerous).  We also needed a steering wheel and a motor.

We had our passionate vision (I still get goosebumps), and all we needed were the materials to build it.  Bill’s father was a carpenter and worked on cars.  He had a garage full of parts that we chose from.  So, we set out to collect the parts, or the tactics of our overall “strategy.”

We started with a piece of plywood.  That was our “carpet.”  Using manual saws, we cut a square out of another piece of plywood and mounted it on the larger piece with a 2×4.  That was our steering wheel.  Lastly, the motor.  My cousin found a used automobile oil pump, it looked like a motor.  We strapped it on.

We were finished and sat on it waiting for it to lift off the ground powered  only by our imagination.

Richard Rumelt’s article,  The Perils of Bad Strategy reminded me of that experience, and  also so many  prospects who call me to prepare a business or strategic plan.

Before, you consider a business plan, or a strategic plan, let’s look at some his points that are common to bad strategic plans.

Failure to face the problem:  “A strategy is a way through a difficulty, an approach to overcoming an obstacle, a response to a challenge. If the challenge is not defined, it is difficult or impossible to assess the quality of the strategy. And, if you cannot assess that, you cannot reject a bad strategy or improve a good one.”

A common idea  for a potential business plan which comes across my door, is the creation of a record company by some musician that wants to publish, record, and write for other bands, or artists.  The problem that they never address is that the current record company business model is broken.  So I ask them what are they planning to do that is different?  They usually don’t hire me when I ask that question, and I never hear of them again.

Mistaking goals for strategy: “A leader may justly ask for ‘one last push,’ but the leader’s job is more than that. The job of the leader—the strategist—is also to create the conditions that will make the push effective, to have a strategy worthy of the effort called upon.”

This is why motivational speakers (or life coaches) are not strategists.  They work up passions to get people to give it that one last push, but don’t have the business skills to set the condition, or roadmap for them to do so.  What good would it have been if my cousin pushed me down a sand dune on the wooden carpet if he did not lay out the strategic plan of how he was going to get it to fly?

Bad strategic objectives: “Another sign of bad strategy is fuzzy strategic objectives. One form this problem can take is a scrambled mess of things to accomplish—a dog’s dinner of goals. A long list of things to do, often mislabeled as strategies or objectives, is not a strategy. It is just a list of things to do.”

When you are driving cross country, the mileage markers (Los Angeles  200 miles) are metrics that measure how far you have gone, and how far you have to go to reach your destination.  A list of business metrics for the sake of metrics will not help you if they are not in line with your strategic plan.

Fluff: “A final hallmark of mediocrity and bad strategy is superficial abstraction—a flurry of fluff—designed to mask the absence of thought. Fluff is a restatement of the obvious, combined with a generous sprinkling of buzzwords that masquerade as expertise.”

If you don’t understand this, try moving to Los Angeles and prepare a business plan/strategic plan for an entertaiment company. This city if full of this vibe.  I see part of my job is to cut into this and get to the core issues of the business.  I have to ask the hard questions and ground whatever assumptions the client is making.

The most important ingredient in a strategic plan is honesty.  Entrepeneurs have to be honest with themselves and their potential investors.  If they are not, the carpet won’t fly.