Without a clearly defined business strategy, your business is destined for decline and failure. By business strategy, I am not referring to the behemoth, 10,000 page business strategy document that takes years to write and now just collects dust on a shelf in your office. I am talking about a simple, concise, focused, nimble plan that you constantly refer to and measure progress against.

When I first moved from a technical role into a business leadership role, I created a strategic business plan masterpiece that covered all areas of our business including marketing, sales, proposals, project execution, competitive analysis and even customer analysis. This document took quite a few months to put together and was very impressive. I still keep a copy of it in my office as a reminder . . . of its futility!