Here's a quick and simple litmus test of the likelihood of your organization, department, or micro business enjoying great success in the coming years.

There are others; and many of them are probably much better. Or at least they have more statistical analysis and empirical validity . . . because this one has none.

It is based solely on my observations of the way most of today's zooming successes are approaching doing business in our world of knowledge networks and lightening changes.

(And I just made up the scoring mechanism at the end).

So grab a pen, and off the top of your head scribble the following:

1. The 5 most important alliance partners you've started working with in the last 3 years.

2. The top 5 influencers with whom you've proactively cultivated, or enhanced, relationships with this year. (folks with minimal formal connection, whose opinion of your operation can help you succeed).

3. Three specific things done in the last 12 months to help attract and keep the kind of "best and brightest" you'll need to succeed.

4. Three new things you plan to be doing via your website in the next 18 months.

5. Two ways that meaningful and compelling values for your operation have been articulated and widely communicated this year.

6. A valuable resource or referral source you've found in the last 3 months, and a useful publication you read today, that you hadn't even heard of 6 months ago?

Add up the number of items you were able to write down out of the 20 asked for.

15 to 20: Congrats: you obviously "get it", and are positioned well for future success. Carry on.

8 to 14: Pretty good: you have an instinctive sense of what needs to be done and are moving in that direction. Puts you in the top quartile, and bodes well for your future. Accelerate the process.

2 to 7: Well, at least you're doing something. Were these "toe-in-the-water" beginnings of a plan? Then time to jump in. If you just stumbled into these few, time for a plan!

1, 0 , and "I don't understand the questions"/"this doesn't apply to me": Uh-oh! If 1978 ever comes around again, you're well poised to seize the opportunity. Time to get reading, surfing, and out to a few conferences.

Warren Evans is a prominent Canadian consultant and trainer based in Mississauga, Ontario. A popular and dynamic speaker, he's addressed audiences across Canada, the U.S. and in the Caribbean and Europe. He is one of North America's leading authorities in the field of Service Management. Warren can be reached at (905) 858-000.
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