If Your Boss Has No Plan, Exit Now

Leaders who do not have a plan, do not know how to win. That is why you should never risk your life following them.

These days, as I follow the Brexit fallout, I get extremely upset whenever I read articles that the Leave campaign leaders did not have a plan. These leaders are incredibly irresponsible as they have asked an entire nation to risk it all without any idea on how to succeed. In my work, I often encounter opportunistic leaders who do not see the need for a plan.

Granted, situations will change, and we need leaders who are willing to pivot. However, to pivot, you will still need to consider the pros and cons, so you must  have a plan. Without a plan, you are simply flying blind, and it is dangerous as livelihoods are at stake. Here is how you can recognize these planless leaders and save yourself.

Leaders without a plan have big egos

Our firm was in a joint-venture once in the hope that the venture will help to grow our business globally. However, year after year the partners would gather to drink, sing praises about the work thus far, enjoy the scenery, and that is it. By the second year, I asked the principal partner what he had in mind with regards to the future of the group since he was not getting younger. All he could say was, his firm was the most admired practice, and since they are getting all these fantastic opportunities, so it means that things are good.

In summary, he is great, so he did not need to have a plan as he will surely succeed. When another year came, and we did the same leisurely thing, I decided that we have enough, and pulled out. It was a useful experience because we learned that we should have more confidence in ourselves. After that our global expansion took off, and we have never looked back since.

In summary, he is great, so he did not need to have a plan as he will surely succeed.

Leaders without a plan have not thought things through

One of my ex-partners was a lot older than I and he insisted that he should become the managing partner. So I said that while I recognize his seniority, I needed to know what plans he has for the business. He said that he would need time to put it together. So I said that rather than wait, why not answer my questions now?

So I proceeded to ask what business he thought we were in? How should we do business development? Where does he see the opportunities and what were the risks? What are the biggest challenges confronting us? His replies were incoherent and lacked specifics. So I told him that I would not budge as I am concerned about what will happen to the company if I were to follow him. Ultimately I said, the rest of the partners must choose to follow the one who has the most sensible plan. So the partners met and they chose to follow my plan because when the day came, he did not have any plan to show. Even until today, updating the partners on our yearly progress based on the overall strategic plan is what I continue to do to secure support and buy-in.

His replies were incoherent and lacked specifics.

Leaders without a plan do not know how to find partners or build an alliance to win.

I once worked with a CEO of a large multinational firm on a change management project. This CEO was brilliant and had deep insights in his sector, but as he came from another culture, he had difficulty connecting with the people in the organization. So I asked him what was his plan regarding turning the people around to support his vision? He bluntly dismissed them as insular and incapable of change. However, I requested that we should still find a way to work with the people we have, or else change will not happen. He dismissed my suggestion, and so we went along. True enough after a while, both sides, he and his senior team could not stand each other. The negative rating of this CEO kept shooting up the roof and soon he was let go. It was a pity because he knows what the problem was but because he refused to engage the team, the vision did not get implemented.

He bluntly dismissed them as insular and are incapable of change.

Being able to identify planless leaders has helped me a lot because you will soon be able to tell who are the good and responsible ones. Excellent leaders with a realistic plan are always thinking about problems and how to solve them. If you speak to those leaders with a plan, they are constantly aware of the challenges and they do not ever underestimate them. More importantly, because they have been considering these challenges long enough, they know the sequence of their actions, whom they need to work with, the resources and time that they will need to pull things through.

If you speak to those leaders with a plan, they are constantly aware of the challenges and they do not ever underestimate them.

I have met many such responsible and thoughtful leaders. Whenever I work with them, it is inspiring, and it makes our job worthwhile. I hope your boss has a plan, if not, make your exit quick but try to make it an amicable one.

About Lawrence Chong

He is the Co-founder and CEO of Consulus, an innovation consultancy with business management and multi-disciplinary design capabilities. He is a featured speaker at global events such as World Marketing Summit and World Brand Congress. He served as the Immediate Past President of Design Business Chamber Singapore. His thoughts on  innovation and creativity appear in regional media such as Business Insider, Business Times, Marketing Magazine, Newsbase, TheEdge , Prestige Magazine, VTC10. In his personal capacity, he is a member of the Focolare, working for peace through dialogue with friends from different faiths.

About Consulus

We are a global innovation and design consultancy with business management and multi-disciplinary creative capabilities. Since 2004, we have helped companies, governments and non-profit groups achieve sustainable profit and growth by redesigning their organisations, business models and brand experiences based on our method of unity. Our competitive advantage comes from the insights gleaned from reviewing companies in 18 cities throughout the Asia Pacific regarding their business and organisational models. Read about our PurposeCore programme if your organisation is looking for an effective transformation to meet the complex challenges of the 21st century. Consulus is a member of the Economy of Communion

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Consulus is the convener for Shape the World Conference, a creative thought-leadership event aimed at providing design-led strategies to inspire companies to innovate and shape the world. In 2013, Consulus launched the World Company Day initiative to inspire companies to shape the world creatively into a better place through daily work.

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