It is one of the best quotes ever. Second only too, "Where attention goes, energy flows."
"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" The star who created the quote punched people in the face so well that he became world heavyweight boxing champ: Mike Tyson.
Ninety-five percent of the thousands of organizations I have worked for and with have a "strategic plan." Usually it covers three years. What plan can survive the certainty of endless uncertainties.
As a trial lawyer I was driven by ethical values. But, my days were filed more with tactics on winning than overall strategies. Entering the structured hospital world in 1975, I learned that a written strategy was required. Eventually, I learned that the "punch-in-the-mouth" phenomenon sabotaged every plan.
The living, breathing part of any strategy, its heart, must be as flexible and dynamic as the counter-punching world. Thus, principles matter most.
Missions are nice and frustratingly fraudulent. Hospitals offer "the best care anywhere." When they fail staff say, "That was just our goal."
Tyson's career proved why principles matter. He won championships, but was a failure because he fought dirty. In one bout , he literally bit his opponent's ear off!
Mission without vision is useless. Vision without effective action is failure. Action without values bends ethics.
Leaders only succeed with a culture of peak competence and deep compassion. Caregivers succeed the same way.
The Mayo Clinic, everybody's gold standard, succeeds not because of mission or vision. They succeed because every staff member is held to the famous "Mayo Way" of doing things.
Such a culture survives "punches in the mouth" and wins the championship every year.
NOTE: Tune to the new Erie Chapman Foundation YouTube channel for prize winning videos of caregiving in action! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrUaWlrnmC0-K2Mnf51bwXg
-Erie Chapman
Tyson-Holyfield photo copyright Daily Mirror
