Expectations

"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." (Abraham Lincoln)

"A good battle plan that you act on today can be better than a perfect one tomorrow." (General George Patton, Jr.)

"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." (Satchel Paige)

What are you expectations for yourself as a leader? What are your expectations for you business? Don't we all have expectations? I know I do. I know what I want to accomplish. Many of those things are right by my desk on my "vision board". I know what I want....now how do I get there?

We as leaders all start with expectations. We have our own expectations. We have the expecations of our leaders. We have the expecations of our subordinates. This leads to the next pivotal question. How we we plan to meet and possibly exceed our expectations.

I'd like to direct you to the article below in Business Week Magazine. This is an article by Jack & Suzy Welch.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_02/b4066080139784.htm?chan=search

I served 17 years as enlisted and a commissioned officer in the United States Army Reserve. Every exercise, every operation, every plan started with a mission statement. We as military leaders were taught to create our own mission statements using the "commander's intent" from the next higher headquarters. That "intent" helped us frame our "mission". The "mission" created the framework for our planning.

The same applies in business. Though we as leaders won't have a mission for every single thing we do, we need to a least have a mission when we start a business venture. That's what Jack and Suzy Welch talk about. A leader without a mission is setting his/her business up to fail.

Start with a mission. From that mission, comes a vision and set of values. You now have the framework for your business. Hopefully, your employees now know what direction to go.

Can a mission change? Absolutely! In fact, you might want to look at your mission every time you do your strategic plan. Should the mission change every time? Read Jim Collin's book "Good to Great". He talks about the missions and visions of great business leaders like Sam Walton and Walt Disney. They still exist today. The missions have been tweaked over the years, but they still support the core vision.

We all have expectations. True leaders have a plan with a mission for meeting and exceeding those expecations.