I was with a mid-market CEO recently who said: “Every year our planning feels like a financial exercise. We sit around the table, tweak the budget, and call it strategy.”
That’s not strategy. And it’s not how you build enterprise value.
If you want to grow with intention, your plan for 2029 — and your yearly plan for 2026 — has to go beyond spreadsheets. It has to clarify the future, align your First Team, and create the discipline to execute. Otherwise, you’re just forecasting, not building.
Here’s how bold CEOs approach it:
- Vision – Go to the future, to see the future. Your vision shouldn’t stop at a revenue target for next year. It should paint a picture 10 years out that inspires alignment today. Netflix didn’t imagine “more DVD rentals.” They imagined a new way to experience entertainment. That’s what vision clarity does.
- Strategic Intent – Break it down to three years. A 10–20 year vision is essential, but it’s too far out to execute directly. Define where you need to be by 2029 — the end of your three-year plan — so your First Team can focus on strategic intent that is bold and achievable.
- Insight – Gather the right intelligence. Talk to your top customers at the decision-maker level, listen to employees, and learn from stakeholders. Add market intelligence. Insight isn’t just data — it’s the outside-in perspective that turns blind spots into opportunities.
- SWOT – Face reality together. With insight in hand, sit with your First Team to identify the company’s true strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This is where the tough conversations happen — and where value creation begins.
- Strategic Pillars – Focus your bets. Out of the SWOT, define the 3–5 strategic pillars that matter most for the next three years. Align them to your vision and strategic intent, then clarify the critical success factors for each. These pillars are the backbone of sustainable growth.
- 2026 Plan – Make it tactical. With your three-year plan set, zero in on the must-do’s for 2026. Who owns each initiative? What KPIs will you measure? This is where strategy meets accountability.
The truth is, these steps aren’t complicated. But they require discipline, time, and courage from you and your First Team. And once the plan is built, the hard part begins — communicating it early, often, and consistently until it becomes the language of the organization.
CEO Call to Action: Don’t let your 2026 plan become another budgeting exercise. Lead your team through these six steps before year-end. Challenge the vision, refine the intent, anchor in insights, and focus on the few pillars that will matter most. Because a bold 2029 plan isn’t just about surviving the future — it’s about creating enterprise value that lasts.