Play the movie forward
Too often business owners utter the phrase, "If I could turn back time" as it relates to decisions they've made for their business. The phrase is most often used when referring to decisions they made months or even years earlier and unfortunately, it's used with great regret. I had a boss one time tell me that every leader needs to learn how to assess each business decision and whether it will have impact on future compnay value. Too often, in our desire to make progress and get things off our desk, we might make snap decisions regarding such things as adding a new customer, expanding a product line, buying a piece of equipment or hiring a new employee. But the key is to know which decisions will have a meaningful impact on the future value of your company. Just like when we pick up the remote control to the TV and fast forward to play the movie forward to see an outcome, we more regularly need to do the same with business decisions. Some decisions are certainly tactical and whatever decision is made will have no impact on future company value so little time or thought needs to be given. But as leaders, we need to be able to assess that a decision we're addressing may in fact play a meaningful role in the value of your business. In my past running of businesses, I'd often say to my team, "let's play the movie forward on this decision and talk about what it will mean in the eyes of potential customers, banking partners, investors or acquirers." Looking through these lenses broadens your paradigms and more often leads to better decision outcomes. Certainly you need to make decisions for how they will impact you today (ie: impact on near term revenues and/or cash flow) but equally and potentially of greater importance is determining the impact your decision will have on future company value.
Start today to build your teams muscle of playing the movie forward on decisions you're facing. Doing so could have a meaingful difference on the future value of your company.
