Bill Canady says new leaders should spend 60 days drafting a three-year strategic plan, starting with a clear picture of where the company stands against competitors. Keep it shallow and wide, like a puddle. Focus on one to three critical initiatives max, not every front.
Once you have understanding of where you are, who your competition is, how you're winning, how you're not winning, and how the company is running, that starts putting together your strategy. A 3-year strategy of where we are, where we're going, the steps that we're gonna get ourselves there with it. About 60 days in from the time you take over is where you should expect to have that completed at. Again, it's very shallow. Think of it as a puddle, be an inch deep and a mile wide. Nonetheless, you'll have something for people to take and start organizing themselves around, start rallying around. And a really good strategy is no more than 1, 2, no more than 3 things that you've got to go do to win. Underneath those 2 or 3 things, there may be hundreds of things, but if you are trying to win across every front, forget about it. It does not work. You must pick 1 or 2 key things, preferably 1 if you can do it, that if you get this right, you're going to go win.
