I often say “A strategy isn’t a Strategy unless it is written down”
To add to this, recently I talked with a client who is known for being opportunistic. They told me they’d seen a new opportunity to acquire a business that would work for them.
I asked them if they had thought of this before as a potential opportunity or if was simply “out of the blue”. They replied that the specifics of this acquisition were new, but the area of business was one that they had thought of before. This was, then, an existing potential opportunity, not something “out of the blue”.
My follow-up question was to ask if they had in fact written this potential opportunity within their current multi-year Strategy as part of the potential opportunities they saw for growth over the next few years.
In this case, they had, which now means that they will find it far easier to gain alignment and agreement with others for the investment as it is an “existing potential opportunity” than simply “out of the blue”.
My recommendation then, is simple. Consider any Potential Opportunities that you feel may come up and would benefit your business, then write them down, and, more specifically, write them into your Strategy.