Thanks to your feedback, we’re now offering a TL;DR summary—so if you're short on time, start there to get the gist. But if you’re ready to dive deeper, keep reading for the full insights, stories, and wisdom that make Paper Napkin Wisdom what it is!
TL;DR: Rapid Planning
The speed of strategy has changed—businesses must adapt or risk irrelevance.
-
Traditional annual planning is dead.
- Move faster: What used to be annual planning is now quarterly, quarterly is now monthly, and monthly is now weekly.
- Technology, AI, and market shifts demand agility—slow planning cycles will leave you behind.
-
SMART goals need an upgrade: SMART-T (Transparency).
- Goals should be visible to everyone, ensuring alignment and fast course correction.
- Research proves that writing down goals and checking in weekly drives the highest success—not from forced accountability, but from transparency and volunteered accountability.
-
Meetings must be structured and action-focused.
- Use Identify, Discuss, Solve (IDS) to make meetings about execution, not endless discussion.
- Meetings should drive decisions and actions—no wasted time, no fluff.
-
The Focus-Align-Act model is the blueprint for success in rapid planning.
- Focus on the 2-3 priorities that actually matter—cut the clutter.
- Align the entire team by making goals transparent and reinforcing them in every planning cycle.
- Act with speed—strategy without execution is worthless.
Bottom line: The world is moving faster. Strategy must be simple, execution must be dynamic, and planning must be rapid. Speed wins. Adapt or get left behind.
In this week's Paper Napkin Wisdom Weekly:
- Paper Napkin Wisdom Preview
- The Power of Rapid Planning in Times of Change and Upheaval
- The Challenge: Navigating Rapid Change with Precision
- Two Blueprints, Need One?
- Week in Review
- Why This is a Must-Read Guide Before Choosing Any Coach
Paper Napkin Wisdom Podcast Preview
This is the only place where we give you a sneak peek into what's coming up on Paper Napkin Wisdom. Remember to share this with anyone who needs to hear these messages.
Epsiode 226: Tom Schwab, the mastermind behind Interview Valet! Tom is redefining how thought leaders connect with the right audience—and he’s got powerful insights on leveraging your brand and voice for real impact.
Epsiode 227: Luis Velasquez, a leadership expert with a story that redefines resilience. From battling a brain tumor to becoming a sought-after executive coach, Luis knows firsthand how to turn adversity into strength. His journey isn’t just inspiring—it’s packed with practical wisdom for leaders navigating tough challenges.
Epsiode 228: Warren Rustand, get ready for an unforgettable episode! A visionary leader, entrepreneur, and former White House appointee, Warren has spent decades shaping high-performance leadership. In this conversation, he’ll share game-changing insights. His previous appearance is one of the all time most downloaded shows. Get it here.
Epsiode 229: Sheelagh Whittaker, from leading billion-dollar companies to breaking barriers in the boardroom, Sheelagh brings bold insights on leadership, transformation, and thriving in uncertainty. Don’t miss this episode packed with wisdom from a true trailblazer!
Epsiode 230: Ted Nolan has lived a story of resilience, leadership, and unwavering determination. A former Jack Adams Award-winning coach and a proud advocate for Indigenous communities, Ted knows what it takes to rise against the odds and lead with heart. This is more than hockey—it’s about the mindset of champions.
Epsiode 231: Laura Burke, a powerhouse in strategy, leadership, and executive transformation. With deep expertise in corporate growth, governance, and leadership coaching. If you’re serious about leveling up your leadership game, this is the conversation you need to hear.
Stay connected with Paper Napkin Wisdom on Apple, YouTube, and Spotify to be the first to hear these incredible episodes!
The Power of Rapid Planning in Times of Change and Upheaval
Strategy: Permanent and Simple
Strategy is often misunderstood. Many believe it is a complex, cumbersome process involving endless documents, dense frameworks, and rigid structures. In reality, strategy is both permanent and simple. At its core, strategy is about making choices—choosing where to play and how to win. It is the guiding principle that remains consistent while execution evolves.
Where most organizations go wrong is assuming that strategy is static. In today’s rapidly changing world, execution must be dynamic and agile. Without a structured approach to planning and adaptation, even the most well-crafted strategies become obsolete. This is why planning is key—it ensures that execution remains aligned with strategic objectives, no matter how turbulent the external environment becomes.
The Role of Planning: Annual, Quarterly, Monthly, and Weekly
Organizations have traditionally operated on an annual planning cycle. Once a year, leadership teams gather to review past performance, set goals, and outline initiatives for the next twelve months. While this approach made sense in a relatively stable business environment, today’s world demands greater flexibility and speed.
Annual Planning
The annual planning session serves as the foundation. It establishes the organization’s vision, mission, and long-term objectives. Key performance indicators (KPIs) and company-wide priorities (often referred to as "rocks") are set. Budget allocations, resource planning, and overarching strategic initiatives are determined. However, given the pace of change, an annual plan is no longer sufficient as a standalone roadmap—it must be revisited and refined continuously.
Quarterly Planning
The shift from annual to quarterly planning is one of the most significant adaptations modern organizations must make. A quarterly planning session ensures that the organization remains agile in response to external forces such as artificial intelligence (AI), geopolitical shifts, and market disruptions. In this session, leadership evaluates progress against annual objectives, adjusts priorities, and resets key projects based on real-time data and insights.
Quarterly planning is where strategic pivots occur. What was relevant three months ago may no longer be a priority today. By re-evaluating objectives more frequently, companies can remain aligned with both their strategy and the evolving landscape.
Monthly Planning
Quarterly planning must be reinforced through monthly reviews. Monthly planning serves as a checkpoint to track progress against quarterly objectives. It ensures that departments and teams stay aligned and that execution remains on course.
During monthly sessions, leadership identifies roadblocks, reassigns resources, and refines initiatives as needed. This cadence keeps momentum high and prevents minor challenges from becoming significant obstacles.
Weekly Planning
Taking planning one step further, weekly planning meetings focus on short-term execution. These sessions are where alignment is reinforced at the team level. The key question is: What needs to happen this week to keep us on track for our monthly and quarterly goals?
In weekly meetings, teams review priorities, address immediate concerns, and ensure that everyone is clear on their objectives for the coming days. These meetings must be structured—focusing only on identifying, discussing, and solving issues (IDS) that impact key priorities.
The Need for Acceleration: AI, Global Dynamics, and the Speed of Change
The speed of business has changed, and organizations must change with it—or risk becoming irrelevant. Several factors are driving the need for more rapid planning cycles:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is revolutionizing industries, automating processes, and uncovering insights at an unprecedented speed. Companies that fail to adapt to AI-driven decision-making risk falling behind.
- Global Dynamics: Supply chain disruptions, economic uncertainty, and geopolitical shifts demand constant recalibration. Businesses that still operate on static annual plans find themselves reacting too slowly.
- Market Evolution: Customer preferences, regulatory environments, and competitive landscapes change quickly. Rapid planning cycles allow organizations to stay ahead of these shifts rather than playing catch-up.
To navigate this complexity, companies must compress their planning cycles:
- What was once annual planning must now happen quarterly.
- What was once quarterly planning must now happen monthly.
- What was once monthly planning must now happen weekly.
Learn, Solve, Adjust: Ensuring Clarity and Execution
The shift to rapid planning cycles must be paired with a disciplined approach to execution. Simply meeting more often does not guarantee results—meetings must be purposeful and tied directly to organizational priorities.
Moving Beyond SMART: SMART-T Goals
We’ve all heard of SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It’s been the gold standard for years. But in today's world, we need to take it one step further. We need SMART-T goals, where the extra “T” stands for Transparency.
Transparency is the game-changer. It ensures that priorities are visible across the organization and that people know not just what they need to do, but why it matters. It builds trust, eliminates hidden agendas, and enables faster course correction. Without transparency, goals become isolated, execution falters, and alignment breaks down.
The Power of Writing Down Goals and Volunteered Accountability
Research backs this up. A study by Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University found that people who write down their goals are 42% more likely to achieve them compared to those who just think about them. But here’s where it gets even more interesting—those who write down their goals AND check in weekly with a group of peers achieve the most. Not because of accountability in the traditional sense, but because of transparency. This is what I call volunteered accountability—where people willingly share their goals, struggles, and progress with others, not out of obligation, but because it fuels their own commitment to success.
Transparency isn’t about pressure; it’s about alignment and clarity. When we know others are working toward the same big-picture objectives, we’re more likely to push forward, solve problems faster, and support each other’s progress.
Running Every Meeting on a Schedule and Agenda
Meetings should be structured and focused exclusively on solving issues and making decisions that drive strategic execution. The Identify, Discuss, Solve (IDS) framework helps teams remain action-oriented:
- Identify: What is the real issue at hand?
- Discuss: What are the possible solutions?
- Solve: What action will be taken, by whom, and by when?
By following this framework, meetings remain productive and ensure that discussions lead to tangible outcomes.
The Speed of Strategy Has Changed—We Must Change with It
The old way of strategic planning is no longer viable. Businesses must recognize that in times of change and upheaval, agility is their greatest asset. Organizations that fail to adapt will find themselves lagging behind more nimble competitors who embrace rapid planning and execution.
The key takeaways for organizations looking to thrive in this new reality:
- Adopt a quarterly planning mindset – No strategy should be locked in for 12 months; revisit it every 90 days.
- Implement monthly execution check-ins – Ensure alignment and adjust course as needed.
- Run weekly tactical meetings – Keep priorities front and center and remove obstacles in real time.
- Focus meetings on problem-solving – Spend time only on issues that need to be addressed and resolved.
- Ensure all priorities are SMART-T – Clear, measurable, transparent, and tied directly to annual objectives.
By accelerating planning cycles and embracing volunteered accountability, organizations remain agile, responsive, and strategically aligned—turning challenges into opportunities and uncertainty into competitive advantage. The speed of business has changed. Those who embrace rapid planning will not only survive but thrive.
The Challenge: Navigating Rapid Change with Precision
We’re living in a world where things move fast—AI, shifting economies, evolving markets. Traditional planning cycles are outdated before they even get implemented. The businesses that thrive aren’t the ones with the best long-term strategy; they’re the ones that can execute the right strategy at the right time. And that requires a framework that is both simple and adaptable.
That’s where Focus-Align-Act comes in. It’s not just a way to think about execution—it’s a way to ensure that your planning cycles keep up with the speed of change.
Step 1: Focus – What Truly Matters
Define the Right Priorities
Rapid planning cycles don’t work unless they are grounded in a clear sense of direction. The first step is Focus—cutting through the noise and identifying the few key priorities that truly matter.
Ask yourself:
- What are the 2-3 most important things that will drive success in the next 90 days?
- What is the single biggest challenge standing in our way?
- What external changes (technology, competitors, market shifts) do we need to anticipate?
This is about making trade-offs. If everything is important, nothing is. Clarity on focus areas enables teams to avoid distractions and direct their energy where it will make the most impact.
Apply to Planning Cycles
- Annual Planning: Define the biggest priorities for the year—but keep them adaptable.
- Quarterly Planning: Reassess priorities based on real-time insights. What worked last quarter? What needs to shift?
- Monthly Planning: Break down priorities into actionable chunks.
- Weekly Planning: Identify the most important action items that push key priorities forward.
Step 2: Align – Ensure Everyone is Moving in the Same Direction
Communicate Priorities Transparently
Once focus areas are identified, the next step is Alignment—making sure that everyone, from leadership to frontline teams, is rowing in the same direction. This requires transparency.
Here’s what alignment is NOT:
- A long-winded corporate memo that no one reads.
- A vague mission statement that never translates into action.
- A plan that lives only in leadership’s head.
Here’s what alignment IS:
- Clear, transparent communication of key priorities at every level.
- Goals that are openly shared and reinforced in every meeting.
- Volunteered accountability—where teams check in with each other, not out of obligation, but because shared goals drive collective success.
The Power of Transparency
Research shows that people who write down their goals are 42% more likely to achieve them. But the real game-changer? Those who write them down AND check in weekly with a group of peers achieve significantly more. Why? Transparency creates engagement.
When planning cycles become shorter and faster, transparency ensures that execution doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. Every planning session should reinforce alignment:
- Quarterly Planning: Company-wide clarity on top 3-5 priorities.
- Monthly Planning: Each department translates priorities into actionable initiatives.
- Weekly Planning: Every team member knows what they need to do this week to drive results.
Quick Exercise: In your next meeting, ask each person on your team: What are the top three priorities for this quarter? If you get different answers from different people, alignment is broken. Fix it.
Step 3: Act – Fast Execution with a Bias for Solving
Move from Planning to Doing
With focus and alignment in place, the final step is Action. This is where most organizations fall short—not because they don’t plan well, but because they don’t execute fast enough.
The key is structured execution—not reactive firefighting, but disciplined, purpose-driven action. This is where Identify, Discuss, Solve (IDS) becomes the non-negotiable framework for all meetings.
Running Effective Rapid Planning Cycles
Every meeting should have a simple goal: Identify obstacles, discuss solutions, implement action.
- Quarterly Planning: IDS at the company level—what big shifts need to happen?
- Monthly Planning: IDS at the departmental level—what’s blocking progress?
- Weekly Planning: IDS at the tactical level—what needs immediate resolution?
This ensures that every single planning touchpoint is moving toward execution—not just endless discussion.
How to Apply It Right Now
- In your next planning session, ask: Are we solving or just discussing?
- Measure meetings by their output: What decisions were made? What actions were assigned?
- Hold fast to the schedule: Planning should be fast, action should be immediate.
Final Thoughts: Speed Wins
The pace of strategy has changed. Those who plan fast and execute faster will win. Focus, Align, Act ensures that rapid planning cycles don’t just exist—but actually drive results.
Remember:
- Focus: Cut the clutter. Prioritize what truly matters.
- Align: Make priorities visible. Foster transparency.
- Act: Stop debating. Solve, implement, move.
If your planning cycle isn’t keeping up with change, it’s not a cycle—it’s a roadblock. And in business today, roadblocks kill momentum.
Speed wins. Execution matters. The only question is: Are you keeping up?
Two Blueprints, Need One?
The Demand Blueprint gives you a simple, battle-tested system to attract more leads, convert them into loyal customers, and scale with confidence.
With small, actionable steps and a four-week plan, this guide will help you fix the root cause of weak demand, build trust-based sales relationships, and create real-time engagement that drives sustainable growth.
The Demand Blueprint is usually $9.99, but as a Paper Napkin Wisdom subscriber, you save 50%. For just $5, you’ll get a clear, step-by-step roadmap to help you move from inconsistent sales to predictable, scalable growth.
The Profit Blueprint (an e-book) gives you a simple, battle-tested system to take control of your finances—whether in your business or your household. With small, actionable steps and a four week plan, this guide will help you stop running out of money and start building financial freedom. The Profit Blueprint is usually $9.99 but as a Paper Napkin Wisdom subscriber you save 50%. For just $5, you’ll get a clear, step-by-step roadmap to turn profit into a habit, not an accident.
Week in review
This week on the Paper Napkin Wisdom podcast, we explored two transformative episodes that tackled impactful themes of leadership, resilience, and harnessing potential.
In Episode 224, Todd Palmer returns and gets real about the challenges of leadership, personal growth, and finding clarity in the chaos. He dives into how aligning purpose with action creates meaningful success and why resilience is the key to thriving, not just surviving. Todd shares powerful insights on overcoming self-doubt, leading with authenticity, and redefining success beyond financial metrics—because true leadership starts from within. If you're looking for a bold, no-BS take on leadership and growth, this episode is a must-listen! Listen now on Apple.
In Episode 225, Neila Ramsingh delves into the transformative journey of reclaiming one's voice amidst societal and cultural pressures.She discusses overcoming fears and past traumas to embrace authenticity, emphasizing that speaking one's truth fosters personal empowerment and deeper connections.Neila offers actionable strategies to navigate and rise above the noise, encouraging listeners to stand confidently in their truth. Listen now on Apple.
Check them out here:
