The Risk of Waiting—and the Cost of Perfect Plans

I once worked with a group that managed eight companies across different industries. Sharp people. Proven leaders.
They invited me to help run a training company. I accepted. I was president of that business.

But there was a problem.
The board moved slow. Not because they didn’t care—but because that’s what their world taught them.

In their primary industries, it made sense:
↳ Product approvals took 2 to 5 years.
↳ Infrastructure build-outs dragged past two.
↳ Even a training program needed layers of approval.
They were used to operating on long timelines. Big budgets. Bureaucratic structure.

And that mindset followed them into our training business.

They believed we needed a million-peso office to look legitimate.
They assumed we had to hire trainers full-time and pay salaries to secure commitment.
To them, speed was risky. Nimbleness felt unprofessional.

But I knew:
That strategy wouldn’t work in my world.

The Strategy That Worked Elsewhere Won’t Always Work Here

I’ve worked with top-tier clients in the Philippines.
Trained thousands—without owning a fancy building or burning capital.

I didn’t need full-time staff.
Because the best trainers—the ones with real insight and dynamic presence—are in the industry, not in cubicles.
Most of them are unemployable in the traditional sense. Not because they’re unreliable—but because they’re in demand.

They value freedom. They work project-to-project. And they perform when it matters.

This is something the board didn’t know.
So it never made it into their strategy.
Which meant—without realizing it—they were building a business for the wrong market.

Strategy Isn’t Transferable—It’s Contextual

And this is the bigger point.

Too many leaders miss opportunities not because they don’t have strategy—
but because they’re using the wrong one.

↳ Built for a different era.
↳ Built for a different business.
↳ Built for a world that no longer exists.

In a fast-moving environment, the edge doesn’t come from finding the perfect plan.
It comes from learning faster than the competition.

You refine through execution.
You adapt through feedback.
You find clarity in motion—not in the boardroom.

What This Means for You

If you’re watching others move faster, it’s not because they’re reckless.
It’s because they’ve accepted that action beats analysis when the ground is shifting.

The new game is speed + sense-making.
Move fast. Learn faster.

Because in today’s world, the best strategy isn’t perfect—it’s adaptable.

How I Help

As a strategy coach, I help organizations think like they actually are—not like who they used to be.

I help you shed legacy thinking, and build a strategy that fits your market, your pace, your world.

We won’t wait to make it perfect.
We’ll move to make it real.
And from there, we’ll build the version that works.

Because while others are still planning for the past,
You could be shaping the future.