3 key questions that *must* be part of your annual budget process

Tonight, Jews around the world begin observance of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, and enter a 10 day period of reflection, “repentance”—or more literally, “return”—and rededication.

This year, the holiday coincidently—or conveniently—occurs just after the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, and Martin Luther King’s remarkable “I have a dream” speech, and just before many businesses enter their planning and budgeting cycle for the year to come.

Whatever your spiritual inclination (or lack thereof), don’t miss this triple opportunity—personal, societal and business—for reflection, return and rededication. The questions in each domain are the same:

• To what are you most deeply committed?
• How well have you lived into that commitment this past year?
• What will you do to live more fully and effectively into that commitment in the year to come—to more effectively bring into being the results to which you are committed —as a person, as a community and nation, and the economic institution we call a business?

What becomes possible when all three line up? What possibilities open for your company when your commitments in each of these three domains are in sync—both in concept and in action? If you have followed my work and writings, you know that I don’t ask this as an abstract, philosophical or polyannish question, but as a deeply practical one—that unlocks massive business value, as well as generous contribution to collective well-being and personal meaning.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve written about purpose, perfection and what’s really “hard.” I’ve asked: what are you really here to do—both as a leader and as a business? How good are you willing to have it? What would you do—or at least imagine doing—if you knew you could not fail? And—since our focus here always returns to business strategy and execution, and the complementary dance between “how can an ecological lens drive innovation and value in business?” and “how can business thrive by dedicating itself to a world that works?”—what would you have your business actually do in order to realize these opportunities??

So whether you are entering into 10 days—or 10 minutes—of personal reflection, or 10 weeks of budget planning and decisions, consider these questions:

• What would deep, powerful,  industry-leading, world-changing success look like for your company?
• What innovations in business model, brand promise and execution would enable you to simultaneously build profit, brand and resilience, reduce risk, drive innovation, fulfill purpose—and serve life?
• By what metrics would you know you’ve achieved those goals — or that you are making effective progress towards them?
• How will you provide your people a clear line of sight that connects each person’s expectations, actions and impacts with your organization’s strategic roadmap and most important goals—the key to an agile and effective organization?

I hope these questions are looking over your shoulder as you enter your planning and budget cycle—and that you’ll contact me to explore how Natural Logic (and natural logic) can help you answer them.

This is the season. Now is the time.

Quotes of the week:

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” – Horace Mann (1796-1859)

“I am looking for a lot of people who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.” – Henry Ford

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