Balance Short Term And Long Term Objectives For Lasting Effectiveness

To know where you're heading, you must see the future, and make the successive steps to stay relevant and prosperous.

The mining companies of the Iron Range in Minnesota took record profits for many years, before falling out of favor with the markets. Their costs soared as they had to dig deeper and deeper for iron ore and their machines and buildings aged. Other mining companies continued to upgrade their equipment, buildings, and processes and took over the market. If they had reinvested some of their profits during the good years, they could probably have maintained a healthy financial position for many more years. Instead, many of them experienced huge layoffs, some idled and/or closed, and many surrounding towns suffered economically.

Operating a successful business is like driving a vehicle. You keep one eye on the horizon, but you take in everything that is going on right in front of you. If you were to take your eye off the horizon, you might not see a Moose walk in front of you and be able to stop in time. The same is true of a business. When you’re looking only at what’s directly in front of you, you might miss the changing markets/trends and find yourself in financial trouble quickly. Can you imagine how Ford Motor Company might have fared if they had stuck with Model T’s, instead of evolving into more modern looking vehicles? They simply wouldn’t exist now, and wouldn’t have lasted long even then.

Without a long-term goal, you won’t know what direction you’re heading. No one goes on a vacation, or very few at least, without knowing where they are going.