What does the end look like? What does it need to look like to achieve your targeted success?
“Exit Strategy” it’s become a catchcry or start-up theatre topic of choice. It’s thrown around a lot, but what does it mean to you?
The reality is, yes, you do need to think about what the end looks like to guide today’s actions. While many hear exit value, and therefore only applicable to business owners/investors, the concept has broader applicability. It needs to be considered by everyone as they navigate the journey.
Whether you’re in the C-Suite, Upper or Middle Management, on the front line or the Owner / Director of a corporation, we need to consider purpose, goals, and how your actions will influence the next chapter.
For an owner, it might be the business’s future value and how to maximise it. For a member of the C-Suite, it can be realising success and creating value as a means of developing a springboard for the next opportunity. For aspiring leaders, it could be building a platform of credibility that facilitates the transition from the staff room to the board room in the long term.
Acknowledge the reality of your movement towards the door. Like a gravitational pull, you can’t necessarily defy the laws of physics, but you can influence your trajectory, one that maximises the impact and value you create in the present and sets you up for the next chapter on the journey.
How we want it to end should be an open conversation, one that evolves beyond the “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”. Instead, we need to work to expose our motivation and tap into the intent, where we all have the highest chance of excelling and realising the fullness of our potential.
Understanding where we’re going makes it a lot easier to work out how to get there.
How will it end for you?