Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

Opportunities are hard to predict but it is not unrealistic to assume that they will come along.

The reason it's so important to assume the arrival of opportunities, is the attitude that comes along with that assumption.

One valuable result of this assumption is to not consider an opportunity as a threat to the planning process. What this does is prepare for what we know will be an anomaly within our businesses; something that will happen consistently throughout the years.

I've seen management throw away opportunities because they weren't able to process the interruption.

What is it that's really being said in this? Essentially we must learn to plan for something that is impossible to plan for. This is done by not focusing on potential scenarios, but on the attitudes we currently embrace in our operational plans.

We must be willing to be interrupted, when that interruption represents an important opportunity for growth.

This isn't referring to chasing every possibility out there, rather it's talking about the occasional discovery of something that makes sense to the business and is connected to its core purpose. It is there that we must have an openness to embrace the potential that comes our way unexpectedly.

We're talking about managing unseen things here. To manage the unseen can never be done in a practical manner, as the way to accomplish something can't be explored until the vision of it is seen first. To manage unknown expectations of the future involves continually reminding ourselves and our people that we will at times be interrupted. It is in that potential interruption that we must have the openness to embrace them.

Those that do this will be ready for the future opportunities that inevitably always present themselves. Those not ready can literally lose the future of the company by rejecting what looks like an undesirable distraction. Knowing the difference between the two is the key to success.

Warren Buffett has always been an expert at discerning the two for Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A).

Other Buffett Resources:

Wisdom of Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett, investor

Warren Buffett: The trouble with being a legend

Warren Buffett: 'I told you so'

Company growth

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