Your future success just won't tolerate business as usual.

The notion of creating a profitable and enduring business by gathering the troops once or twice a year for planning is past history.

The companies who use their intelligence and flexibility to continually adapt will inherit the future.

Consider the following 5 exercises to guide on-going exploration and invention with yourself, your team, your partners and your customers:

Exercise #1. Brand: "Is our business still important to you?"

Do your most important customers still understand what you are promising to them? Do they find those promises to be believable, compelling and uniquely different?

Exercise #2. Customer Experience: "How do you feel that you are being treated?"

Can your customers depend on you to deliver your promises? Do you live up to your promises at each and every customer touch point?

Exercise #3. New Products: "Are we anticipating your needs?"

Do you delight and surprise your customers with new, effective and different ways to satisfy their needs? Are you working to address their future?

Exercise #4. Revenue: How can we expand the ways that we serve you?"

Are you evolving your customer relationships in ways that grow your revenue? Where are the untapped opportunities to grow your sales?

Exercise #5. Savings: "How can we work smarter to drive our profitability?"

Do the people who operate your business dialogue all of the time to identify opportunity areas to trim costs? Do you reward the people and initiatives that drive better margins