I want to live my life on purpose. As part of my on-going attempt to do so, each year about this time, I look back at the previous twelve months. This assessment, if done well, can inform my decisions about the upcoming year. However, every annual review also surfaces gaps in my life and leadership.
The fourth quarter every year is always challenging for me. Not because of year-end deadlines or goals I’m striving to nail before the annual clock strikes midnight – the challenge is preparing for the upcoming year.
We don’t control outcomes or opportunities – we do control our readiness for the challenges and opportunities we encounter. This core belief creates a passion in leaders to learn and grow. The New Year is a perfect reset moment. Our process of preparation can have a huge impact on our readiness and our success.
Have you started working on your annual plan for 2016? One of my personal disciplines each year is to not only create a plan for the upcoming year, but to also assess what worked and what didn’t from the current year and attempt to improve the process.
Who is your competition? It may not be who you think it is. I was reminded of this again recently as I read a Knowledge@Wharton interview with MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga. You might think MasterCard’s competition would be American Express or Citibank – no, Ajay says their competition is cash.