You can’t force a tailwind, you can force your readiness for one
Ten years into building, the annual planning cycle stops being useful. A year is too short a unit to learn anything from. It’s long enough to feel like progress and short enough to hide the fact that the money isn’t made evenly across time. It shows up in bursts, during the stretches when conditions favour […] The post You can’t force a tailwind, you can force your readiness for one appeared…
A decade-long construction phase in business planning no longer proves effective, due to the impracticality of a one-year timeframe for learning. Periods of prosperity and hardship alternately appear within this short span, leading operators to attribute success to luck rather than timing. Timing, however, is a premeditated decision made long before its impact.
Andrew Carnegie, despite experiencing two price collapses in his steel business, chose to operate at a loss during downturns to accumulate cheap construction costs and assets. Toyota similarly capitalized on the 1973 oil embargo by manufacturing fuel-efficient vehicles for an untapped market, readying itself for the shift when it occurred.
The success of both companies lies in their structural readiness during market changes, rather than causing the changes themselves. Corning and Samsung have similarly built resilience into their operations, maintaining capacity and product development during economic downturns to benefit from favorable conditions when they arise.
The key takeaway is that the planning horizon holds greater importance than the plan itself; a long-term, multi-year approach allows for investments in capacity, assets, and unmet product needs during quiet periods, ensuring preparedness for future favorable windows.
Written by urgent.news from e27's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
