According to a survey of 2,000 people, these were the top 5 New Year’s resolutions of 2019:
- Diet or eat healthier (71 percent)
- Exercise more (65 percent)
- Lose weight (54 percent)
- Save more and spend less (32 percent)
- Learn a new skill or hobby (26 percent)
Looking at that list it’s not hard to see why the majority of New Year’s Resolutions fail. Every one of those resolutions is too broad and not nearly actionable enough. They all beg the question, “How?” How are you going to eat healthier? How are you going to save more money? How are you going to track, measure, and manage your way to learning a new skill?
So what happens if you’re using the same ineffective strategies to set business goals that most people use to try to lose weight, read more, or learn a new language? Are you setting your business up to fail before 2020 has even begun? This time next year, will you be making excuses? Or will you be celebrating something BIG?
There’s a better way for CEOs to determine what they want to do in the next 12 months and how they’re going to do it. And that process starts with the CEO Coaching International Crystal Ball Exercise, which you can download right here.
Crystal Ball Exercise
Step 1: Gaze into your Crystal Ball. You see December 31, 2020. Your company is having the biggest New Year’s party its ever thrown. Your C-suite, your managers, your ground-level employees, your friends, your family — everyone has gathered to celebrate 2020, your company’s BIGGEST year ever.
Why was 2020 such a huge success?
Mark Moses: This time next year, will you be making excuses? Or will you be celebrating something BIG?
Because your company…did what? You crushed your BIG #1 goal that you set at the beginning of the year, that’s what!
For example, you may have:
- Grown revenue by 40%
- Made an acquisition that added $10 million in revenue
- Launched a new product that booked $8 million in orders
- Increased your profit by 50%
- Reduced the customer concentration risk of your biggest customer from 35% to 22% of your gross revenue
- Reduced your customer churn rate from 24% to 15%
Notice how the goals above are specific and measurable. You’ll know by the end of the year if you hit them or not.
Now is the perfect time to write down one BIG goal for 2020 that you’d be thrilled to crush and then 2 – 3 other goals that are important for your business to achieve. Be realistic, but don’t be afraid to think BIG!
Step 2: Now for the hard part. How did you hit those goals? What are the specific and measurable activities your team executed daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly that built towards your BIG goals?
I’ve worked through the Crystal Ball exercise with hundreds of CEOs running businesses of all shapes and sizes. The all have an easy time seeing success, that is, completing Step 1 of the Crystal Ball Exercise. But with few exceptions, they all struggle identifying the steps they can put in place to hit those goals.
The businesses that stay small until they shrivel up and die never figure out this step. Or they don’t bother to try. They decide that setting a goal is good enough. They decide that the staff they have is good enough, instead of upgrading the team.
As a side note, now is a good time to rank all the members of your leadership team as an A, B, or C. Is it time to upgrade? Are these really the people that are capable to take you where you want to go? Have they been down this road before? If not, you will have a hard time achieving what you want.
Don’t be the CEO who settles for good when great is within reach.
So if you get stuck on Step 2, don’t settle. Kick off the year with an annual planning session that will recalibrate your goals and fine-tune your processes. Call up a trusted mentor whose been there, done that, and has the perspective you need. Get a CEO coach who will help you identify the right steps and hold you accountable for taking them.
Ultimately, only one person can look into the Crystal Ball and see what’s going to make 2020 your BIGGEST year yet. The most effective CEOs have the courage to commit to their vision with the right steps and the best people — no excuses, no compromises.
CLICK HERE to download the Crystal Ball Exercise and get going on making BIG happen in 2020.
About Mark Moses
Mark Moses is the Founding Partner of CEO Coaching International and the Amazon Bestselling author of Make Big Happen. His firm coaches over 200 of the world’s top high-growth entrepreneurs and CEO’s on how to dramatically grow their revenues and profits, implement the most effective strategies, become better leaders, grow their people, build accountability systems, and elevate their own performance. Mark has won Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award and the Blue Chip Enterprise award for overcoming adversity. His last company ranked #1 Fastest-Growing Company in Los Angeles as well as #10 on the Inc. 500 of fastest growing private companies in the U.S. He has completed 12 full distance Ironman Triathlons including the Hawaii Ironman World Championship 5 times.
About CEO Coaching International
CEO Coaching International works with the world’s top entrepreneurs, CEOs, and companies to dramatically grow their business, develop their people, and elevate their overall performance. Known globally for its success in coaching growth-focused entrepreneurs to meaningful exits, CEO Coaching International has coached more than 500 CEOs and entrepreneurs in more than 40 countries. Every coach at CEO Coaching International is a former CEO or President that has made big happen. The firm’s coaches have led double-digit sales and profit growth in businesses ranging in size from startups to over $1 billion, and many are founders that have led their companies through successful eight and nine figure exits. CEOs and entrepreneurs working with CEO Coaching International for three years or more have experienced an average EBITDA CAGR of 66.4% during their time as a client, more than five times the national average. For more information, please visit: https://www.
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