Let go of assumptions about your company and market

Kay Plantes

Bruce Neviaser, who recently took his company, Great Wolf Resorts Inc., public for $238 million, understands the power of thinking strategically. His company made strategic decisions to move into new business areas, then looked for opportunities and secured the skills needed to succeed.

"Although everyone advises you stick to your knitting," Neviaser said, "we believe we can find help if we need it when we move into new areas. I'm constantly amazed at how long companies take to seize an opportunity because they have not decided what they are looking for." As a real estate developer, Neviaser recognized hotels were a different and more attractive business than other real estate holdings.

His company bought hotels while building strong guest-service skills. "When the Dells' water park resort went up for sale, we saw the added value of an entertainment destination and went for it. As developers, we knew how to raise a lot of money.

So we asked, 'If the water park concept works in the Dells, where else could it work?'" This strategic question led to an exciting future. Partnering with the former Dells resort owners to manage water park operations, Neviaser's company built three successful Midwest resorts, with others under construction outside the Midwest.

Dave Boyer and Joan McNulty of MCD Inc. (formerly Madison Cutting Die) also understand the opportunistic power of strategic thinking. They've doubled revenues to $12 million in five years as co-owners. "For two years, we'd conclude our strategic planning knowing that we wanted to get closer to the design decision makers of our graphic arts products and start working in plastic," Boyer shared. "Yet, we never knew exactly how to make these changes come about. Then one day the perfect new product opportunity appeared. We grabbed it and built a new business area." These three leaders know that strategic thinking is far different from business planning. Planning requires managers to make reasonable assumptions to forecast costs and revenues. Astute strategies, on the other hand, the kind that truly stretch and transform the company, only emerge when leaders let go of assumptions about their company and its markets.

Often there are more questions than answers. When you start business planning with strategy conversations, everyone focuses on making next year's numbers.

Your strategy becomes business as usual.

To achieve greater success for your company, hold monthly strategy meetings.

Talk about the changing marketplace, opportunities and risks, where you want to grow and why you'll win. Avoid discussing day-to-day operational, financial or customer issues.

Establish three-year goals, and then monitor progress. Then, when annual or quarterly resource planning starts, ask, "What must we change or do to reach our long-term goals?" Or, like Neviaser, rewrite your plan with each strategic opportunity you seize.

McNulty captured MCD's brand promise in a new tag line: "Imagination Made Real." She's also describing strategic planning at its best. If you separate strategy decisions from business planning, you'll build the company of your dreams.

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