November 11, 2009
Lance Manion stepped out into the cool fall air. The sun was just beginning
to peek through the frost-covered branches, and it's presence sent gray,
wispy clouds of moisture upward.
He opened the door to his 2007 BMW X5, artfully managing the precarious
balance of his briefcase, uncovered coffee cup, and car keys. After placing
the coffee cup in the holder and the briefcase on the front passenger floor,
the keys notoriously slipped from his grasp into the mysterious void between
his seat and the center console.
While reaching among the ubiquitous collection of pens, pocket change,
gum wrappers, and reading glasses, his fingers grazed the smooth edges
of a business card. He carefully grasped the card with two extended fingers
and gently withdrew his hand with precision and deft.
While the throaty hum of the X5 reassured him of impending warmth, he smiled
as he glanced at the contact information on the card. Only 21 hours ago,
he had been sitting with Sam Westerfall, the Founder and CEO of a closely-held
manufacturing company. As Lance smoothly extolled the virtues of periodically
revisiting the strategic planning process, Sam listened with a familiar
lack of interest while picking the remnants of an everything bagel from
his teeth.
Sam's feigned interest and lightly-guarded skepticism about the strategic
planning process was not unfamiliar to Lance. The Westerfall company was
founded 37 years ago and remained a major player in the seamless gutter
mounting clip manufacturing industry. Business was good, though sales had
been flat over the past few years and net profit was declining as operating
expenses steadily increased. The company's business model remained firmly
planted in the 1970's and Sam had been hard-pressed to entertain his son's
idea to reassess their product portfolio and diversify into markets that
could produce additional revenue streams. It was a situation that Lance
encountered frequently in his family business consulting practice.
Over bad office coffee and a dozen fresh, assorted Dunkins Munchkins, Lance
calmly suggested that every business needs to periodically revisit the
strategic planning process in order to ensure that the company maintains
a strategic fit between their goals and capabilities, and changing opportunities
in the marketplace. Too many companies, he suggested, operated in the same
manner year after year, focusing myopically on their existing product portfolio
and the challenges of daily operations. He asked Sam if he ever took the
time to sit back and think about why he's in business, and what his long
and short term goals were for the company and his family.
Sam wiggled in his torn armchair, replete with rich Corinthian leather, and reached for another unfiltered Parliament while grumbling, "I don't need to think about why I'm in business. I know why I'm in business.....it's what I do".
