Richard Pierce Thomas

Leadership and Small Business Consultant

I stared at the matchstick between my thumb and forefinger, transfixed as the head flared. I held the flame above the throwaway grille I had purchased at the lodge store, hoping for the best as I surveyed the sketchy contraption.          

“This had better work,” I muttered as eight pairs of eyes looked on. Half of them belonged to our guests from France. We were vacationing together in Southern Oregon, the Diamond Lake Lodge being our current stop for the night.

The flame slowly licked at the Kraft wrapper containing the briquettes and then immolated like a funeral pyre, the heavy smell of lighter fluid making my eyes water. I ducked into the cabin to check on the rest of the meal on the stove. This was all the result of my talking up the flank steak dinner idea before I realized I hadn’t packed my trusted camping grille. Further, the best the local store could offer for meat were a few pounds of dull-looking sirloin. I was beginning to regret my idea.

An hour later, people were diving into the remaining Wheat Thins and beer nuts while I placed half of the marinating steaks on the grille, not able to fit any more on the paltry cooking surface. As I waited for the meat to cook, I was left to reflecting some advice I had given to a client recently on implementing strategy that suddenly became very relevant.

“How you implement the plan is as important as the objectives you are targeting,” I counseled. “There are three principles to keep in mind.” 

  1. When swinging for the fences…go with what works. American business culture is ADD. We tend to jump from one new idea to the next, winging it without staying the course long enough on the current plan to learn what works. As a result, often the best-laid plans end up on the rocks of unproven actions and short attention spans. To assure success, go with proven measures. The bigger the idea, the simpler and more routine the actions should be. If the tactics are new to the organization as well, learn how to get good at the actions before you commit to the larger objective.
  2. When rolling the dice, keep it scaled. This is the most counterintuitive concept for an entrepreneur…limiting the exposure when implementing an unproven strategy. After all, most entrepreneurs started with an “all in” approach that often risked everything. The problems develop when the at-all-costs approach becomes the norm. The odds will eventually conspire against the continuous tempting of fate. When the crash does happen, just ensure the company can survive the fallout.
  3. Pay attention to the mighty Mo.  Even for the most disciplined data and metric driven organizations, there is nothing more powerful than the emotional energy that comes from momentum. It can make or break strategy, and it usually happens in final stages when the attention span has all but been lost. It is the job of the leader to stay in front of the Mo. How? Celebrate small wins. Recognize efforts and results. Engage the corners of the business that don’t get the regular contact with the decision makers. Inject passion and excitement. If it’s not your style, get good at faking it. The bottom line is, if you aren’t excited about where the initiative is going, why should anyone else be?

Weighing my advice, I realized it would have had me pan frying the steaks, cooking the corn on the skimpy grille, or at least serving up the lighter fluid infused meat with enthusiasm. “It doesn’t taste as bad as you think,” I recall my son saying when I asked him to taste it.

As it were, I gave up on cooking the rest of the steaks. It was after 10 pm and too late to shift gears. I was left to profusely apologize to our guests for the failed meal. We stuffed ourselves on baked potatoes, boiled corn and road snacks and I vowed to follow my own advice the next time I felt the urge to talk up cooking a meal in unfamiliar surroundings, not to mention when weighing the next strategic move for my business.

Rick P. Thomas is President of Activate Leadership, a leadership development consultancy in Washington State. He consults and speaks to organizations across the country, focusing on individual and organizational achievement.