Stand back and evaluate what you are doing from time to time. As CEO you must have focus on the immediate-term of what you are trying to achieve. But, every so often, it’s important to ‘back up’, look at the environment, the market, the technology, and make sure you are still on the right path.

I worked for a Silicon Valley consultancy that had a futurist called Watts Wacker (yes, really!). He co authored a very interesting book called The 500 Year Delta*. One of the theses was, companies should have a 500 year strategic plan, but a 5 year tactical plan. Aim for the long term end game but tweak the here and now to deliver short term results.

If you run through a Business Model Canvas exercise for your company it will help you confirm that your value propositions are still valid today for your key customer segments. Or it may highlight new customer segments, or sub categories that could be addressed with new offerings.

Fine tune the direction if necessary. Pivot into a wholly new direction if absolutely necessary.