Strategic Thinking

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  I've worked with over 500 companies,
  and I've yet to find companies
  that cannot improve
  if they do the right things.

  If they identify the right strategy
  and they implement the right execution.
  Almost every business can improve
  and improve significantly.

  My name is Larry Goddard.
  I'm the CEO of the Parkland Group,
  a consulting firm based in Cleveland, Ohio,
  that works with companies
  to improve their performance, profitability and value.

  The difference between strategic planning
  and strategic thinking is strategic
  planning is generally something a company does
  once a year, once every three years, or once every five years.

  Strategic thinking is something the company and the whole leadership team,
  and in fact, the whole company,
  is thinking about all the time
  and is constantly evaluating and updating.

  So, for example, it's great when one of the, a vice president
  comes into a management team meeting and says,
  "I had a dream last night, and I thought about a great opportunity
  that might work in our company," and that starts a whole discussion in the company.

  Now, a lot of times people may say, you know what?
  That's not going to work in our company.
  I've thought about maybe if we adapt that we can find another way
  to use it and get a great opportunity.
  That's the beauty of the strategic thinking process.

  The starting point to get people to think strategically
  is to find out if they're comfortable with the current situation.
  Generally, when we get hired by a company, they're not comfortable
  with their current situation and their growth has stalled.
  And that's when they bring somebody like us in to help them figure out
  how do we jumpstart our growth,
  to get the whole company into the mindset of strategic thinking?

  We use this team based process
  where we get them together
  using the SOAR growth process that we've developed,
  which starts out with a bunch of surveys.
  People participate in surveys.
  Once they start doing the survey.
  These are online surveys using our software tool.
  Each survey takes about 15 minutes.

  Invariably, when people complete these surveys,
  their minds are opened to a whole vista of new opportunities.

  The surveys themselves, are what trigger the beginning of strategic thinking?
  As people answer questions like, "How good is our company at,
  entering new markets, for example?"
  They immediately start thinking and each survey has 50 or 60 questions.
  When they've completed the survey, their minds are already open to strategic thinking.

  And then they go into a workshop
  where they discuss all these things with their colleagues,
  and they get to see how the whole team
  has ranked each of these opportunities and necessities.

  And then they have a debate and a discussion about it.
  By the end of that two hour workshop, they're very excited
  and committed to strategic thinking.

  So in most middle market companies,
  we actually end up working with potentially 30 or 40 people in the company
  to get them involved in this whole concept of strategic thinking,
  which is identifying the opportunities and necessities,
  and then putting in action plans to implement them,
  and then also monitoring the progress of implementing those action plans
  on a regular basis.

When a business is losing money and struggling with cash flow, drastic action is needed. Larry Goddard shares his firm’s approach to business turnarounds, helping companies regain stability and profitability. One of the first steps is assessing cash flow projections, identifying when and how a business will run out of money.

Rather than focusing solely on revenue growth, Larry emphasizes the importance of reducing breakeven points—lowering operating costs so a company can become profitable at its current revenue level. Many struggling businesses believe they can grow their way out of trouble, but aggressive sales expansion often leads to bad deals, increased risk, and further financial strain. Instead, Larry outlines a more strategic approach, focusing on cost reduction, operational efficiency, and smart growth planning. This video also covers negotiating with creditors, managing banking relationships, and building a long-term strategy to prevent future financial distress.

If your company is facing financial challenges or you want to learn how to avoid common turnaround mistakes, this video offers essential strategies for restoring stability and driving success.