New Year’s Eve comes and that almost choreographed ritual takes place. CEO gathers the team, everyone sitting at the table, the screen open with numbers, goals, deadlines, KPI’s. Efficiency, productivity, growth, people are discussed. Everything looks beautiful on paper — and I love paper.
But time teaches: good planning is not what tidies up the spreadsheet. This is what faces the company and challenges head on.
And here begins a point that I like to defend: while many people start planning by looking at the finish line, I prefer to start by defining what will NOT be done…
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Every business wants to grow everywhere. But truly growing is choosing. It’s prioritizing. It’s about making space for the result to appear. It’s bringing FOCUS to the company. Just like that.
I have a game that I’ve been repeating for many years: among dozens (or more) of priorities, I sit down with the team and we choose three. Only three. The rest goes in the drawer — not for lack of love for ideas, but out of respect for what really needs to happen. And move fast, at retail speed.
In these three, we put energy, investment, and full attention. When the company knows exactly “what it is going to do”, the team moves lightly, makes fewer mistakes and puts its heart and soul into what matters.
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For me, planning is not about guessing the future. It’s about adapting and organizing the house inside to deliver it outside in an environment that changes all the time.
And one of my favorite steps is precisely letting go of what no longer makes sense. Everything that does not contribute, that delays, that diverts, consumes resources. Does it hurt? Too much! I’ve sold a store, changed products, abandoned what worked, changed my mind thousands of times.
This is the great challenge for any CEO or entrepreneur at each turnaround, at each new cycle: “putting aside” to correct the course. Company, market and society are mutants – you need to be too. And starting in the new year works well.
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Here’s to an incredible year for all of us, full of health, courage and results.
