strategy – Page 2 – CainEllsworth

Planning for Perfection

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” – Dwight Eisenhower One of the things I’ve heard leaders say a lot over the past two strange years is that there is so much confusion and uncertainty that it’s impossible to plan for the future. I get it. … Read more

Good and Bad

“Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.” – Frederick Buechner Last week in this space we talked about finding your passion and then spending your energy following it. If you’re not doing what you’re passionate about, it’s physically impossible to be the best you there is. You just won’t … Read more

Pushing Through the Fog

“There is no such thing as a foreseeable future.” – David McCulloch One of the frustrations I hear from leaders on a regular basis is that, right now, the future seems so uncertain. I understand why they say that, given everything that’s going on in the world. We’ve all experienced things in the past twelve … Read more

Think it Through, Plan it Out

“The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.” – John Harvey-Jones With all the craziness that is 2020, I find myself losing track of the fact that it’s already mid-October. So many of the events that mark the … Read more

You Can’t Do It All

“The problem is not making up the steps but deciding which ones to keep.” – Mikhail Baryshnikov I’m fortunate in my career to spend a lot of time helping businesses develop strategy and plan for the future. When I look back at the strategy sessions I’ve facilitated over the years, it occurs to me that … Read more

Yes, You Should Be Talking About Strategy

“You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is interested in you.” – Leon Trotsky It goes without saying that we live in a world of rapid, major, sometimes overwhelming change. Very few things seem to stay the same from one year to the next, and some things seem to change almost daily. Along … Read more

Don’t Tell Me How Hard You’re Working

“The extra mile is a vast, unpopulated wasteland.” – Jeff Haden Most people you meet like to talk about how hard they work. They talk about putting in a lot of hours, about their terrific work ethic, and, depending on their age, how younger people just don’t want to work as hard as they do. … Read more

Stopping the Energy Drain

“I’ve suffered a great many catastrophes in my life. Most of them never happened.” – Mark Twain There are an infinite number of management and leadership articles that have been published over the years. They talk about important things like finance, emotional intelligence, communication skills, and dozens of other relevant topics. And while those certainly … Read more

What’s Filling Your Day?

“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky Most people who lead businesses are extremely gifted, great learners, willing to try new things, open to new ideas, etc. Yet so many people who lead businesses make what seem to be horrendous decisions. Or, in some cases, they seem to make no … Read more

Back to Basics

“We know what we are, but we know not what we may be.” – William Shakespeare There are a lot of fun, complex, mysterious things that go into leading an organization to sustained success. We’ll save those for another day. Today I was reminded of one of the most basic parts of leadership, one of … Read more

GPS Blog

It's time to go "Beyond the Numbers".