“Whatever the new normal becomes, small-business owners will be at the forefront of shaping life as we know it. Some trends will prove durable long beyond this time.”
This is a reminder that all business planning and budgeting requires guessing the future. Times of crisis mean much higher uncertainty. But we don’t just guess — we guess, then track results, and then revise. Our guesses get better over time.
We asked Fortune 500 chief executives in an array of industries to share how they are thinking about next steps.
According to a survey by Clutch, less than 1/3 of small business owners are very confident in their ability to execute their strategy, 40% failed to attain 1/2 of their goals, and 95% failed to attain all of their goals.
Businesses need to have a strategy for the next 12-18 months, well into 2021. This is not the time for short-term thinking or to hope that things will get better in the near future.
