100 Ways to Succeed #175:

Stop!

In preparation for a short speech at a Nature Conservancy fund raiser, I re-read Bill Birchard‘s Nature’s Keepers: The Remarkable Story of How The Nature Conservancy Became the Largest Environmental Organization in the World. When former president John Sawhill was at TNC’s helm, at one point he appointed a key task force to do a ground-up look at the organization’s strategy. More specifically, per Sawhill’s charge: “What areas should the Conservancy focus on and more important—what activities should we stop doing?”

In general, for you or me or our organization, consciously-systematically-strategically working on “stop doings” is of the utmost importance—and often overlooked. We might stop doing some distracting thing, or lower a priority—but that’s not the same as a personal or organizational look at entire areas to excise from our agenda. (And then planning in exacting detail how to withdraw.)

So, I suggest:

In the next 90 days, work with your leadership team on a “Stop Doing Strategic Review.” As I said above, once decisions have been made a careful execution plan must be developed.

(Along the way, do the same thing for yourself—with the eventual help of a “stop counselor.”)