Winning Like the Most Successful Car Racing Team - A Lesson on Strategic Planning Process

While flipping through my father's old sportswould be, like the service bay. After several days
magazines, I came across this famous story:when he knew the plan nearly by heart, Mäkinen
In the 1970s there was a car racing team that wonwould arrive and they would practice together, using
one race after another. The team consisted ofLiddon's notes. They went through the whole track
Finnish driver Timo Mäkinen and his British pilotseveral times and the result was inevitable.
Henry Liddon. They raced together for more thanThey won.
twenty years and their international rally wins were:During the race, the navigator needs to have quick
- 1964 Tulip Rally (Mini Cooper S)solutions to questions, and the answers come from
- 1965 Monte Carlo Rally (Mini Cooper S)preparation, intuition and experience.
- 1965 1000 Lakes (Mini Cooper S)The business environment is a carbon copy of this.
- 1966 1000 Lakes (Mini Cooper S)You need speed, quick reflexes, sharp skills, and you
- 1966 Three Cities Rally (Mini Cooper S)need to be able to look far into the future. When
- 1967 1000 Lakes (Mini Cooper S)you prepare and write a detailed business plan, you
- 1972 Hong Kong Rally (Ford Escort RS)become hardwired for success. Writing a business
- 1973 Arctic Rally (Ford Escort RS)plan makes you more creative, able to see the big
- 1973 1000 Lakes (Ford Escort RS)picture-the purpose of your entrepreneur idea-and
- 1973 RAC Rally (Ford Escort RS)lets you see what is needed in order to succeed.
- 1974 RAC Rally (Ford Escort RS)We all love to win. And there can only be one winner.
- 1974 Ivory Coast Rally (Ford Escort RS)What creates the winner is:
- 1975 RAC Rally (Ford Escort RS)- passion and drive, as well as awareness of purpose
- 1976 Ivory Coast Rally (Peugeot 504 V6)(that's the driver)
They were an unbeatable team but it was not plain- a detailed plan of action, a business plan (that's the
luck; there was a key to it. This is their story:brain of the race)
Two weeks before every motor race, Henry Liddon,Without these qualities you can still drive, but without
being a navigator or pilot as some call it, arrived ata plan you may end up going nowhere. It is the
the rally location. He borrowed a car and wentstrategic planning process that takes you further.
through the whole track several times to familiarizeHaving a plan enables you to become a winner.
himself with it and learn where the important places