How This Book Can Help You
Develop a Powerful Business
Plan That Works
T
his book gives you a proven method to help ensure your com-
pany’s success. Organizations fail to accomplish their goals for
one simple reason: The management story being told is incomplete,
inaccurate, and incongruent. This book cuts past the traditional
problems of planning and provides management with a document-
ed method of building a simplified business plan that works. You’ll
learn how to tell a story that is inclusive of employees and empow-
ers them to participate in the company success.
xxvii
INTRODUCTION
T
HE
F
IVE
C
RITICAL
I
NGREDIENTS OF A
S
UCCESSFUL
B
USINESS
P
LAN
There are five conditions critical to successfully building a power-
ful, executable business plan. You must:
1. Simplify definitions and use words in plain business

UILDING A
B
USINESS
P
LAN
D
ON
’
T
W
ORK
I can contribute to your success by sharing a method of business
planning based on an approach that’s different from the dry, tradi-
Introduction
xxviii
tional numbers method. My experience is that you are currently
using one of three approaches to business planning: traditional,
piecemeal, or one with a deflected focus.
The Traditional Approach: Good Intentions,
Dismal Results
A large number of published works and many management con-
sultants simply say the same thing. They are replays of the same
themes of setting the vision, establishing goals, and getting
employee buy-in. Had the traditional approach of forming a plan-
ning team and producing a document been successful, there would
be no need for this book.
The traditional planning approach fails because the required
parts are not integrated, the results are boring, and the process is
not completed throughout the company. These three faults create a
deadly waste of company time, money, and talent. While the inten-

issues in an orderly, professional fashion? And finally, this book
helps you create a condition for full participation in the plan, not
the traditional “let’s get it over with” attitude. Once you get your
team on the same page, there will be no serious blocks in your plan-
ning process.
The Deflected Focus Approach: Falling Short of
Your Company’s Real Needs
Planning models and theories that approach faddish status usually
prove to fall short of achieving business success. They don’t present
a complete process, resembling more bits and pieces of processes
rather than a unified, logical pathway to the future. They deflect
from the true needs of planners to tell a story in business terms. For
example, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on
reengineering efforts, Total Quality Management (TQM), and the
balanced scorecard, all with minimum overall return. These activi-
ties may be good as specific tools, but they cannot substitute for a
completely integrated planning model. Unfortunately, companies
attempt shortcuts with these overpromised tools and get fragment-
ed success. Only by using a complete planning cycle and applying
appropriate tools at appropriate times can you ever achieve the full
force of the business plan.
Introduction
xxx
Introduction
xxxi
T
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HREE
U

promotes the empowerment of people to take responsibility for
accomplishing agreed-on, realistic goals. The planning process
forces examination of how work is done with the idea of eliminat-
ing unnecessary and wasted efforts that translate to lost profits.
This book will help you find a sensible starting point, illustrate
the value of the parts and pieces of an integrated planning model,
and build a case so logical that you cannot avoid writing a business
plan. I’m going to be appealing to your most basic business sense
and show you how to be successful in setting goals and reaching
your vision.
Your Management Story
This book centers on your management story. I like the concept of
story because it conveys meaning in the simplest possible way. We
live, love, and entertain through storytelling. Today you may have
bits and pieces of the story, but is it believable, consistent, and
authentic? Is the story being told in a way that your employees
understand, buy into, and implement with minimum loss of work
effort? A central message throughout this book is the need to have
all the parts and pieces connected in such a way that they reinforce
each other. In short, they must hang together in a way that forms
a story of hope, passion, and opportunity for success.