…and why it matters to your business
It’s already February, which means you’re probably no longer strategising for 2025.
By now, hopefully, you’re deep into implementing your plans!
So, I should probably move on from the topic I’ve been writing about over the past few weeks — namely, how to create a truly useful business plan for the year ahead.
And I will — next week. 🙂
That’s because I recently picked up a book I hadn’t looked at in years, and one section stood out as particularly relevant.
It’s The Road Less Stupid: Advice from the Chairman of the Board by entrepreneur Keith J. Cunningham. The book is full of short, thought-provoking chapters, each offering business lessons he learned while making his fortune — many of them both original and insightful.
One chapter focuses on how to create a strong business strategy.
Cunningham explains that you first need complete clarity on two things: where your business is today and where you want it to go.
Then, identify the biggest obstacle in that gap. What’s the one thing preventing you from moving from Point A to Point B?
Once you pinpoint that, you know the next big step you need to take in your business.
So far, so obvious. But here’s where it gets interesting…
Cunningham argues that the hardest part of this process is defining where you are today – not defining your future vision. Most business leaders, he says, are excellent at describing where they want to go, but struggle to objectively assess their current reality.
It’s counter-intuitive, because the present is well-known to you.
But it also makes sense. Business leaders are naturally forward-thinking, wired on growth, innovation and what’s next. Meanwhile, the present is often complex, with messy data, operational challenges, and tough decisions that are easier to avoid than confront.
It’s also a problem, because if you don’t know exactly where you stand today, you can’t plot a realistic path forward.
Think of the difference between travelling to Edinburgh from London versus travelling there from New York. These are two very different journeys!
This idea resonated with me because it was the very first point I made when I started writing about business strategy: Before planning ahead, you need to take a hard, honest look at where you stand right now.
For me, the most important part of that assessment is financial reality.
If your goals include faster growth and maximising profitability, you need a crystal-clear understanding of your current financial position. Are you profitable? Which areas of your business are making money? Where are costs creeping up? Where is cash tied up?
Without these answers, setting meaningful goals is impossible, because you don’t know what you need to fix.
In order to overcome the challenge of seeing the present clearly, Cunningham recommends regular ‘Thinking Time’ sessions, which he structures with a series of set questions. I’ll let you read about that in his book yourself!
But it’s also something we can help you with.
When we manage your finances at Insight Associates, we ensure you have total clarity on your financial picture at all times.
Every single month, we provide detailed management accounts, helping you understand the numbers that matter most to your business at that point. You’ll understand your financial present in unprecedented detail.
We also help you look ahead, building useful budgets and forecasts — so you always know what is likely to happen next, too. This naturally involves discussions about whether this future is the one you want!
With this information in hand, planning ahead is no longer a once-a-year exercise. It’s a continual process, in which we constantly look at how to get you from Point A to Point B, and flag up both the biggest financial problems and the biggest opportunities you need to tackle, to get you there.
If that’s the kind of financial management you’d like, please get in touch today. Simply email garry@insightassociates.co.uk or call us on 01279 647 447 to arrange a no-obligation chat.
Warmly,
Garry
You might also be interested in: Is your business too dependent on you? – Insight Associates Limited