Finding the 20% of high-leverage activities that move you towards your wealth

Most businesses treat strategy days like brainstorming sessions, with everyone more confused than when they started. These 3 questions connect you back to what matters most.

I ran a quarterly strategy day last week with a client I’ve been working with for several years.

We reviewed their achievements from last quarter, and identified the current business issues, opportunities and risks.

And when we laid the post it notes out on the table it was overwhelming.

Everything was exciting. And urgent. We wanted to do it all. This quarter!

AI in particular has thrown up a huge amount of opportunity and potential threat in their sector. So many new possibilities, so many new products they could build.

Where the hell do you even start?

Even a disciplined, focused team can feel the pull of the shiny.

So I made them stop.

"Right," I said. " Let’s go back to the vision. What are you building? What really matters?"

I asked them three questions:

1) What activities build the value of this company?

2) What activities build your wealth? 

3) What activities make the foundations stronger so you can build on top of them?

The room went quiet.

The priorities became immediately, obviously clear. There wasn’t any debate. Half of the ideas came off the table to look at next quarter. We quickly organised the other half into Rocks with clear accountability.

The right questions cut through everything and connect you back to what you're really building.

The problem isn't that you don't have enough ideas. You have too many. And no filter.

Find the 20% of high-leverage activities that move you toward your vision, and towards the wealth you’re building.

That’s the filter.