The month, named after Augustus Caesar, the great Roman Emperor and strategist, is when the masses go on holiday and many companies just tick over. However, it could be the time to take a razor-sharp look at the business and plan how to build the empire.
Business leaders can become so immersed in the day-to-day management of their company, that they don’t make time to look at strategy. Seize August as the time for bringing in someone with clear thinking and fresh ideas to shape the firm’s marketing strategy and keep ahead of the competition.
But that doesn’t mean the Chief Exec or MD should start by cancelling their holiday. Let’s face it; nobody wants a strung-out boss who works 80 hours a week to do anything but take a break and get some perspective back into their lives.
They should be hitting the beach or cycling up those mountains, absorbing culture or at the very least catching up with some sleep.
Appointing someone with knowledge and expertise who can take a look at the business and help bring a marketing strategy to life, could be a shrewd move. It is important work that takes focus, objectivity, perspective and clarity. The boss, returning to the office refreshed, has a draft to look over and finalise, which will provide a pathway for the future.
By doing the strategic thinking over the summer, the company is a big step ahead by September, when business kicks-off again.
Meanwhile, other business leaders are in the office during August “catching up with my emails.” There they are, in control; ensuring that the team member who hates having to call debtors is, unhappily and unsuccessfully, chasing invoice payments, throwing out cheesy milk from the fridge and ogling the company website for the first time in weeks, where out-of-date company news is leaping out at them.
This micro-management distracts from the task of taking a birds-eye view of the business and the way forward. But for the company leader who is in the office over the summer, this is a really good time to bring in someone to take a look at the marketing of the business, working with them, or independently, to provide focus for the months and years ahead.
What did the Emperor Augustus do during the summer holidays? Well, in the summer of 30 BC he defeated the power couple Antony and Cleopatra, annexed Egypt into the Roman Empire and brought it under his control.
Now that is keeping ahead of the competition.
So, give some thought to the ways in which your company can be strategic and productive, when so many others are having their down-time.
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Emma Finn, Director, Pathfinder East Ltd.
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 07495 766622
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