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Jan 15, 20203 min read

2 Activities Successful Business Leaders do in January


I love this time of year. You can rule a line under all the business challenges of last year and have a fresh start. There is confidence everywhere you look. There is business opportunity everywhere you look. However, not all business leaders will be able to harness that opportunity and succeed over the year to come. While we are enjoying the holidays and cocktails there are 2 activities of successful business leaders you should make time for.


FIRST. Take time out to openly and honestly reflect on the past year. What worked and what didn’t. Not 10 minutes over a coffee but take yourself off to a quiet place for half a day with no interruptions from family, friends or colleagues and no distractions - especially no phones or laptops. Perhaps even use an old school pen and paper or diary to help formalise the process. Remember this is only for you so don’t bullshit yourself!


Put some structure in your thoughts:

  • Think Externally.

  1. What happened in your market over the past year? How did it change?

  2. How have your competitors faired over the past year and what impact have they had in the market?

  3. Which products or services are performing well and those that are underperforming and why?


  • Look Internally.

  1. Did you achieve the sales results you should have across each of your product lines?

  2. How satisfied are your clients with the products or services delivered to them? Were the products or services delivered on time, on budget and to the necessary level of quality? Are your customers fans that tell the world how good you are or is there work to be done?

  3. Does your team have full and open accountability for their part of the business? Are there KPI’s in place and measures and metrics to keep the team focussed. Are there gaps that need to be addressed?

  4. Which staff are stars and others that underperformed?

  5. Which systems and process are outdated or creating problems?


  • Start thinking forward. Time to look at the forest not just the trees.

  1. Where are the gaps in the market creating an opportunity?

  2. What products or services should you actively promote over the coming year?

  3. How can you help your star performers be even better? Can you assist your underperforming team members, or would they be happier working somewhere else?

  4. Which customers do you need to work more closely on to upsell or retain? Which are must win prospects.

  5. What systems and processes must we improve?

  6. What objectives and targets do we want to reach over the coming year?


  • Get personal. What do you personally want to achieve over the year to come? Do you want to sell the business, or fatten it for sale? Do you want to establish a strong number 2 so you can take a diminished role in the business freeing you up to travel or do something else?


SECOND. Take your thoughts back to the team and formalise objectives, strategies, budgets, targets, measures and metrics. While the objectives are very much yours, the leadership team should workshop with you how they are going to achieve these. It is your team that need to achieve the results. Ensuring the team know what path they are travelling over the year and their role in doing it is critical to achieving it. Importantly if it is not being measured, it is not being managed. Key management and executive dashboards are there to take the subjectivity out of business.


For a free check list of all the elements of your business, you should be addressing at this time of year, contact CFO Evolve on enquiry@cfoevolve.com.au.



Over the years, CFO Evolve have grown our clients revenues on average 24% year on year through part-time CFO services and in doing so have assisted them evolve their businesses to the next level.


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For a confidential conversation on how we can assist you grow, improve profitability, obtain a loan, or even acquire or divest. Contact us today.

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