All tagged The Art of Strategic Planning

Never Say Never Again

Never Say Never Again

Omer Abdullah
Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes, Private Equity, Strategy, Sales

When we went through the Great Recession of 2008/2009, I remember thinking to myself (perhaps consoling myself) that I would never see an economic downturn as bad as that ever again in my lifetime. I mean, the scale of the trouble at the time was such that multiple markets around the world, multiple sectors, multiple categories, all got hit at once, and the resultant economic malaise took years to overcome. Surely, something at that scale could never happen again?

Well, never say never, I guess.

What Can We Compare This To?

What Can We Compare This To?

Omer Abdullah
Careers, Communications, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes, Teams, Strategy

In times of uncertainty, we want to look for comparisons. Situations that are analogous to what we’re going through so that we can identify trends or find indicators - some sort of sign(s) - that allow us to better predict what’s going to happen. It’s a natural thing to do. We want comfort. We want certainty. We want to see a way out.

But, of course, that’s not how things work.

For every comparison to previous pandemics, there are several others that can point to how this one is different.

Some Things Don’t Change

Some Things Don’t Change

Omer Abdullah
Entrepreneurship, Finance, Leadership, Private Equity, Strategy

I was thinking about the Dotcom era of the late 90s and the euphoria that gripped the markets for those few years as stocks climbed to record breaking levels.

The news of the day was engaged in a fevered debate - were we in a new era, one where the old models had become hopelessly outdated? Or was this simply another fad, not unlike Dutch Tulips, a bubble that would burst in due course, once we all came to our senses?

Bite Off Only What You Can Chew

Bite Off Only What You Can Chew

Omer Abdullah
Careers, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Management Consulting, Personal Codes, Strategy, Sales

It's happened to all of us. We start on a change program, get excited about the possibilities and the agenda we've laid out. We foresee the change we need to create and what it's going to take for us to get there. And it's awesome.

But driving this change - as we expect - requires a lot of work. Many special projects and tasks that have to get done. (All while we're juggling our regular day job.)