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What in the world is a
‘Wild Card Strategy’ . . .
And WHY does MY business need one???

Here’s a one-minute answer that will change everything
You thought you knew about the future of your business.

Research by the federal government shows that a quarter of all businesses that exist today will be gone just three years from now. A third of today’s businesses will be gone five years from now, and half of all businesses operating today will disappear within the next ten years! 

Bankruptcies, mergers, acquisitions, and retirements will be the primary reasons these businesses cease to exist, but there will be one underlying cause in virtually every case: inadequate preparation to confront the one common enemy that all businesses share . . . Uncertainty. 

They lacked the strategic foresight to imagine, anticipate, and actually SEE the Wild Card opportunities and threats that await them in the Future. And they lacked planned strategies to leverage their Wild Card opportunities and mitigate/eliminate their Wild Card threats. They’ll disappear because they had no Wild Card Strategy!   

Wild Cards are the opportunities and threats to your business that you’ve never thought of, never heard of, never imagined, and never believed were even possible. They appear literally overnight and are instantly and permanently disruptive for your business.  They’re abrupt events, breakthrough technologies, instant government regulations, surprise changes in consumer thinking, and non-conventional competitors that are sudden entrants into the market.

A Wild Card Strategy prepares you to anticipate and recognize and prepare for opportunities and threats that you can’t see, imagine, or even believe are possible. Without a Wild Card Strategy, you miss out on opportunities to grow your business because you never see them coming AND you’re vulnerable to threats that can instantly destroy your business because you didn’t see them coming either.

Every business that wants to survive and thrive in an Uncertain Future needs a Wild Card Strategy! We look forward to helping you get there!

The Wild Card Blog

-------- 1st March 2025 --------

Why Most Strategic Plans Are Not Really “Strategic”    

When you stop and think about it, most strategic plans (including yours) are not really strategic at all because they do not fully prepare organizations to successfully realize their vision for the future. So, what is missing? What is it that prevents a plan from being truly strategic enough to help you prepare for, and successfully navigate, the future?

The Missing Element: 

Strategic plans fail to be genuinely strategic because they neglect to harness the power of The One Thing all businesses and non-profits have in common: Uncertainty. Although Uncertainty manifests differently for everyone, it affects all businesses and non-profits. To successfully navigate (and survive) the future, every organization must proactively confront and tame Uncertainty. They do that with a strategic plan that anticipates the unknown opportunities and threats that accompany that inevitable Uncertainty.

SWOT Doesn’t Reveal What is Most Important:

In traditional strategic planning, the SWOT Analysis (Strengths / Weaknesses / Opportunities / Threats) should confront Uncertainty. But this necessary confrontation rarely occurs because planning teams often stop short of ever discussing the true Uncertainty lurking in their organization’s future. That’s because the brainstorming that takes place in a typical SWOT session is almost always about what the team already knows—issues already on their radar because they read about them in an article, or heard about them at a conference, or saw them online , or got tipped off about them by a colleague or a competitor. Frankly, if the planning team already knows about these issues and opportunities, why aren’t they already working to leverage or mitigate them?

So, how can SWOT be improved to reveal what is most important?

Partner with Us for Proven
Strategies & Lasting Results

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Put Our Expertise to Work
For Your Business, At No Cost!

We get it.

No business is eager to partner with a consulting firm with “Wild” in their name.

You want to see their process in action. You want to see how the results of that process apply specifically to your business. And you want to take those results back to your business and use them . . . without risking anything (aka “at no charge”).

Like we said, we get it. So . . . yes, no charge. We call it The Wild Card Hour.

Here’s what you get:  Spend 60 minutes with us in your office talking about your business (we’ll ask you six short-answer questions in advance of the meeting to get familiar with your  business).  During the meeting, we will deliver four things to you: a plausible Wild Card Opportunity and a plausible Wild Card Threat specifically identified for your business, a Next Practice specifically designed for your business to give you a competitive edge, and eight business risks specifically identified for your business to address. Each deliverable will include instructions for their use in managing your business and preparing for your future.  Let’s mention it one more time . . . no charge.

When was the last time you got this much value at no charge? Click the Booking Button. Let’s talk.