If you ever watch football at the professional and collegiate level, or even at the high school level, you'll quickly notice how organized and structured the game is. The quarterback calls a play and the offense follows a set pattern, and then the defense reacts accordingly. Each side has a pre-formed strategy—a playbook that they use to govern their decisions.
Now, contrast that with a few young children you see playing football in a backyard. They run in circles, they through the ball haphazardly, and they chase each other without even knowing whose team they're on. While these kids might be having fun, few people would say that their behavior is a "winning strategy."
In business, there are some organizations that behave like professionals and others who behave like children. Some leaders have strategies and steer their team in a clear and concise direction toward victory. Others may just "fly by the seat of their pants" and go in whichever direction the wind takes them.
If you are to succeed as a leader in the mortgage industry, you've got to play like a professional. You've got to have playbook. You've got to have a plan. Luck is not a strategy. Hope is not a strategy. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. So, take a look at your organization. How do you operate on a day-to-day basis? Are you just making decisions as you go, or are you going by a playbook? Just remember: you can't win without a plan.
David Lykken, a 43-year veteran of the mortgage industry, is president of Transformational Mortgage Solutions (TMS), a management consulting firm that provides transformative business strategies to owners and “C-Level” executives via consulting, executive coaching and various communications strategies. He is a frequent guest on FOX Business News and hosts his own weekly podcast called “Lykken On Lending” heard Monday’s at 1:00 p.m. ET at LykkenOnLending.com. David’s phone number is (512) 759-0999 and his e-mail is [email protected].
