The Fifth P is the Most Important, It is the PLAN
May 31st 2008 02:40
Now that you are familiar with the Four P’s of Marketing, you are ready to leave that partially behind and look at the fifth P of Marketing. Yep, that is right, there are five! The fifth is the most important. It is the PLAN.
Some people say that a plan is better than no plan. This is partially true. By having “no plan” what you really have is an informal unspoken and unconsidered plan of meandering your way and moistly being tossed to a fro by whatever external and internal forces come upon you.
A plan of adaptation and flexibility is better than a simple plan. This is what we call Resilience and Foresight. After all the best plan is the one that works the best. Efficiency is not better than Effectiveness. Two fundamentally different ways of viewing what you are doing. What is efficient is not always the best in long term effectiveness. Agency Theory is a good example of this. Short term gains at the expense of long term strategic positioning.
To illustrate this example of a Plan I will use a Chess game played in 1942 in Budapest. Kluger vs Nagy. It is a short game and illustrates who a few mistakes in the beginning could destroy you later.
This is a typical position after the first few moves of the Sicilian Defense. Most chess players understand this, and non chess players have no idea what I am talking about. That is okay! You do not need to know chess to know the forthcoming principles.
This position was stock. Nothing creative happened; it is a part of chess theory. Basically, it has been a mindless execution of moves so far. Just like doing accounting and making a business plan, nothing special or difficult there.
White moves his Bishop out to attack threaten the Knight and beyond, and Black pushes a pawn forward to stop white from playing e4-e5, contesting the e5 square. How ever he could have played e7-e4, and stopped Nc3-d5 and Nd4-f5 . This would have allowed his to develop his Bishop Bf9-e7, and them to castle King-side. Black’s side should look like this possibly:
But what could have been and what is are two different things. Look up the Hindsight Bias for further explanation.
At the end of the sixth move, Black plays a7-a6 defending the b5 square, however the more important d5 is open for a knight outpost. Black is bracing against threats that may not come and has totally neglected his future King Safety.
White’s Queen moves up to work with the Bishop on g5. Black retreats his Knight to d7, wasting time with an unnecessary move.
White is developing in a strong manner, Black is uncertain and wasting his resource of “Tempo”. In business there is a Time Value of Money, and a Study of Opportunity Cost!
The Bishop is activated to e2 which frees White to castle Kingside, a solid plan for King Safety. Black has plans to develop his Bishop too, so he moved g7-g6. There is no time for this now. The opening game is over and now we must transition into the middle game, back is way behind in time.
Whites Knight takes up position at his outpost being supported by his e4 pawn! Black wants to threaten White’s g5 Bishop. Too little too late I am afraid. Black left behind the critical e6 square. Now that he is not defending it with is f file pawn, White is free to move in to this critical weakness.
White moves in, Forking the Queen and Bishop!
Black retreats his Queen, and creates a skewer through White’s Knight on g5 to White’s Bishop on g5. This was Black’s only good response.
Another Knight fork with check! White’s Knight is defended by his other Knight on d5, so the Black Queen cannot capture.
Black yet again has no choice but to play White’s game. White could take Black’s a8 Rook, but when you see something good look for something better!
The e6 Knight moves to d8 with check. White controls the tempo. Black had squandered his time early in the game and is paying for it dearly now!
Black runs away.
The White Knight offers check again! Black only has one square he can legally move to now. Black actually resigned here. Yep, he gave up, do you see why? In this case, things got so bad, so fast for Black (because of his bad decisions early on) that Black commits chess suicide. Here is the continuation:
So what are Black’s options here? Either possible pawn defenses would simply be taken,. His Queen cannot intercept because she would be lost too.
The moral of the story??
Do not squander your resources, specifically time. Lay a good foundation from the start and work from there. Black had a plan, Whites was better, and took advantage when Black gave it.
Some people say that a plan is better than no plan. This is partially true. By having “no plan” what you really have is an informal unspoken and unconsidered plan of meandering your way and moistly being tossed to a fro by whatever external and internal forces come upon you.
A plan of adaptation and flexibility is better than a simple plan. This is what we call Resilience and Foresight. After all the best plan is the one that works the best. Efficiency is not better than Effectiveness. Two fundamentally different ways of viewing what you are doing. What is efficient is not always the best in long term effectiveness. Agency Theory is a good example of this. Short term gains at the expense of long term strategic positioning.
To illustrate this example of a Plan I will use a Chess game played in 1942 in Budapest. Kluger vs Nagy. It is a short game and illustrates who a few mistakes in the beginning could destroy you later.
Sicilian Defense
This is a typical position after the first few moves of the Sicilian Defense. Most chess players understand this, and non chess players have no idea what I am talking about. That is okay! You do not need to know chess to know the forthcoming principles.
This position was stock. Nothing creative happened; it is a part of chess theory. Basically, it has been a mindless execution of moves so far. Just like doing accounting and making a business plan, nothing special or difficult there.
White moves his Bishop out to attack threaten the Knight and beyond, and Black pushes a pawn forward to stop white from playing e4-e5, contesting the e5 square. How ever he could have played e7-e4, and stopped Nc3-d5 and Nd4-f5 . This would have allowed his to develop his Bishop Bf9-e7, and them to castle King-side. Black’s side should look like this possibly:
But what could have been and what is are two different things. Look up the Hindsight Bias for further explanation.
At the end of the sixth move, Black plays a7-a6 defending the b5 square, however the more important d5 is open for a knight outpost. Black is bracing against threats that may not come and has totally neglected his future King Safety.
White’s Queen moves up to work with the Bishop on g5. Black retreats his Knight to d7, wasting time with an unnecessary move.
White is developing in a strong manner, Black is uncertain and wasting his resource of “Tempo”. In business there is a Time Value of Money, and a Study of Opportunity Cost!
The Bishop is activated to e2 which frees White to castle Kingside, a solid plan for King Safety. Black has plans to develop his Bishop too, so he moved g7-g6. There is no time for this now. The opening game is over and now we must transition into the middle game, back is way behind in time.
Whites Knight takes up position at his outpost being supported by his e4 pawn! Black wants to threaten White’s g5 Bishop. Too little too late I am afraid. Black left behind the critical e6 square. Now that he is not defending it with is f file pawn, White is free to move in to this critical weakness.
White moves in, Forking the Queen and Bishop!
Black retreats his Queen, and creates a skewer through White’s Knight on g5 to White’s Bishop on g5. This was Black’s only good response.
Another Knight fork with check! White’s Knight is defended by his other Knight on d5, so the Black Queen cannot capture.
Black yet again has no choice but to play White’s game. White could take Black’s a8 Rook, but when you see something good look for something better!
The e6 Knight moves to d8 with check. White controls the tempo. Black had squandered his time early in the game and is paying for it dearly now!
Black runs away.
The White Knight offers check again! Black only has one square he can legally move to now. Black actually resigned here. Yep, he gave up, do you see why? In this case, things got so bad, so fast for Black (because of his bad decisions early on) that Black commits chess suicide. Here is the continuation:
So what are Black’s options here? Either possible pawn defenses would simply be taken,. His Queen cannot intercept because she would be lost too.
The moral of the story??
Do not squander your resources, specifically time. Lay a good foundation from the start and work from there. Black had a plan, Whites was better, and took advantage when Black gave it.
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