Have you heard the phrase “Ready, Fire, Aim?” That’s not a typo, you read that right, “Ready, Fire, Aim” rather than “Ready, Aim, Fire.” The idea behind the flipping of this common adage is that in business, sometimes we spend so much time in the planning or aiming part of the process that we fail to pull the trigger or fire entirely-- or we do it too late. The message here is to consider that in some instances you and your organization can benefit from executing an idea before it is fully planned and then adjusting as needed to get the idea fully on target.
"Ready, Fire, Aim" is a popular business phrase to help understand the idea of more immediacy in execution and it is also the title of one of my favorite business books by Michael Masterson. What really stuck with me in reading the book is how I could personally do a better job in getting out of the planning stage to step out a little more and get things done. Being an effective business leader is less about perfection and more about execution. How many great plans never get put into action? A great plan never executed or executed too late is essentially valueless. Yet a plan executed, even if you need to adjust it along the way as more information comes in, has far more value. Even if there is a failure, which can happen when you are quick to act, you still benefit from the lessons learned and the information gathered in the process.
It’s a simplistic example but think of a child beginning the monumental task of learning to walk. Now imagine that baby spending many hours formulating just the right plan to take those first few steps. See that baby looking over complicated diagrams and putting together spreadsheets to map out exactly what is going to happen when. Seems a little silly right? We know babies just have an internal drive to explore and with some trust that they will be okay, they get up on wobbly legs, try, fall and try again adjusting their course until they get it.
Certainly in many instances, as business leaders we must plan, formulate our actions and really think things out carefully. Yet not so much that we get stuck in the planning stage where things may seem safer-- because we cannot misstep if we don’t begin. The truth is that a great plan that sits in someone's desk drawer or in the back of their mind is worth far less than the seed of a plan or a half-baked idea fully executed. Imagine the impact on our world if all such great plans came out of people's drawers and into our lives. Look at how Microsoft got their start - Bill Gates borrowed the idea of a visual operating system from Xerox who shelved the entire project because they didn't see the future potential of it. Bill Gates simply stepped into the "fire" mode to rekindle the project under his own Microsoft banner. Today Microsoft is the largest software company in the world. How many assets do you have sitting around that will never benefit anyone because you couldn't get them off the ground? Too many people never get a shot off because they spend all their time aiming. In many instances, you should take a chance, get into fire mode, and take that shot. You can always come back and do better aiming.
So what great plans are stuck in your drawer with only more planning to come as your next action item? Step out this New Year and get from under the AIM mode and get into the FIRE mode!
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