The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning

HPMD Quotes & Sources

"Peters and Waterman ... made famous the "Ready. Fire. Aim." comment of a Cadbury's executive. In fact, this makes a great deal of sense, as long as one gets to fire more than once, which is normally the case. Extend the phrase and you have strategy formation as a learning process: "Ready-fire-aim-fire-aim-fire-aim," etc. Just as structure must always follow strategy, the way the left foot must follow the right foot walking, so too must firing always follow aiming, and preceed [sic] it too, in order to make the necessary corrections." --Henry Mintzberg, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, pp. 291-92

"Planners may be rightfully concerned about Rambo-type behavior in management -- "fire-fire-fire" in every direction, with no aiming. But managers must be equally wary of planning behavior that amounts to "Ready. Aim. Aim." Mintzberg p. 292

Short Quote:

"Planners may be rightfully concerned about Rambo-type behavior in management -- "fire-fire-fire" in every direction, with no aiming. But managers must be equally wary of planning behavior that amounts to "Ready. Aim. Aim." --Henry Mintzberg

Author:	Mintzberg, Henry
Title:	The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning
Periodical:
Volume:
Number:
Publisher:	Free Press
Place (City):	New York
Publication Date:	1994
Pages:	p. 291-92
Source Type:	Book
Quote Number:	15
Categories:	Quotes, Strategic Planning