We have all heard the old expression about life imitating art and vice versa. So does this exist with regards to business too? What this means is does business imitate life?
When we think of where we are today – the economy, business, personal, life and how they blend, mesh and work together – many a question comes to mind.
Business Strategic Planning: 
The first is how does what we do in business imitate our lives at large? What this means, is where do we cross over, intersect and thus do or don’t do what we do in life? Just like art imitates life, we are replicating our businesses and roles in the same way that we do in our personal lives. This is neither necessarily good nor bad.
Most important is how we are doing it, are we successfully and effectively implementing and executing and are managing and measuring results? Do you truly know that what you “do” in life is truly a reflection upon your defined vision and strategies and how? If you cannot answer this, then if you are imitating life in business, how do you know you are doing the same there?
It is important to understand that we have measurement systems to measure effectiveness, results, alignment and ultimately execution. Personally, we have various systems – banking, credit cards, mortgages, email, etc. In business, we have systems – ERP, CRM, BI, Big Data, etc. Even if we are using these systems are we also managing to ensure effectiveness?
If you manage to business imitating life, then manage and measure so that you are completely addressing effective alignment and execution.
Recently Ivana Taylor, OpenForum, wrote about Karma as it relates to business. Here is her example of business imitating life:
“Do you believe in Karma? I do. Like the time a VP called me into his office after I resigned, yelled and screamed at me and as a climax to his tirade said “We’re going to buy that company and when we do…I’m going to fire you!”
About a year later, we were at an industry trade show. I was in the booth of my new company when this VP walked by. He came over to me and apologized for screaming that day. Finally, I asked why he felt he had to do that. He explained he had resigned a few months after me for a new position at another company. Then six months after that, the company we had both worked for purchased his new employer and fired him.”
Business and life itself intersect. Measure what you do, manage your results and arrange your resources to effectively make sure that the vision and strategies, in both business and life are effectively executed upon!
So when you look at your business, what is that you think about, how do you think about it, what do your clients and/or customers, employees, investors, board, etc. think about it and you, etc? How do you consistently measure and manage to get to the right mix of life and business balance? Is everyone on the same page as you, do you know and how do you know and what if they are not – so what? What about your competition?
Let us know your thoughts and what you do – business is business is business – regardless of what business we are in, we all deal with People, Finances and Processes!
