Page 13 - MS Year in Review 2020

opportunity for some businesses or an urgent need for others to re-structure and

re-position themselves strategically.

“PLANS ARE NOTHING. PLANNING IS

3
EVERYTHING”

What is required is a more agile response method. The key to the method required
is found in the immortal words of the late Dwight D. Eisenhower (who was both the
Supreme Commander in Chief of Allied Forces during WW II and later President of

the United States), who stated in discussing planning for the Allied invasion of
Normandy: “Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.”

Always protect “the Core”

One of the key things to do in any crises like the current Covid-19 is to “protect

the core of a business.” But what is the core of a business? “The core” consists
of the key assets (both tangible and intangible) that are either irreplaceable or
difficult to replace.

In most crises, downsizing or so-called “right sizing” is a first response. However, it
must be done with a scalpel rather than a meat clever, meaning that it should not
consist of across the board cuts in wages and expenditures. It ought to more

resemble to pruning a tree rather than chopping off its limbs indiscriminately.

The perspective taken to these cuts should be a long-term view, and should not
only focus on what is deemed “essential” for the immediate or short term.
Accordingly, certain projects and personnel must be protected even though in the

short terms that might have been discontinues as “not essential” currently.

The CEOs of two of our clients (both savvy and very astute leaders) confided to me
that they actually welcomed periods of great economic stress because it led their

competition to make hasty decisions and take actions with a short run perspective
that actually weakened themselves. This practice allowed our clients companies to

3 Attributed to the late General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was both the Supreme Commander in
Chief of Allied Forces during WW II and later President of the United States.

12
© Management Systems Consulting Corporation, 2020. All rights reserved