There’s an old army saying, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

I’m sure some Navy or Marine guy out there will attribute this comment to their branch of service, but to be clear, it came from the Army.

Actually, the original of this paraphrased quote is widely attributed to Prussian field marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder.

His version was much less pithy. (Gotta love his helmet, though.)

The saying holds true in business as well.

You can put together the mother of all PowerPoint presentations, make massive strat plan binders for the board of directors or the heads of your business unit, create Excel models that cause the lights to dim when you run them, and lay out huge project plans in MS Project. The thing is, as soon as you’ve briefed your plan, it’s irrelevant. The world has changed. Oil spikes. Consumer sentiment. A presidential election. New regulations. Disruptive technologies, and even more disruptive competitors. Not to mention natural churn in the labor markets (see “Talkin ’Bout My Generation”).

In these changing times, it’s easy to get “off strategy” and chase things that seem important. Unfortunately, you can end up behaving like a puppy in a park. (Ever seen a puppy in a park? They chase everything that looks interesting.) The only thing that can save you and keep you “on strategy” is something called “primacy of purpose.” I think primacy of purpose and a clear vision and mission are so critical to success that I spend tons of time working with our clients on strategic planning programs. Failure to invest in your strategy pretty much guarantees failure.

Primacy of purpose is rooted in the mindset that you must provide guidance on where you want to go, but not always how to get there. Adopting this mindset will enable your employees to be infinitely more flexible, help them quickly spot new opportunities that are “on strategy,” and solve crises with faster decision-making “rights.”

Indulge me while I use another military example.

Let’s say your battalion’s orders are to watch the north side of the convoy route and prevent enemies from attacking your convoy from the north. You’re blithely tooling along the road and—surprise! The attack comes from the south. Now remember, the battalion has been given orders to watch the north side. Troops can achieve their stated objective by preventing attack from the north. Even if the convoy is destroyed by the attack from the south, the battalion has achieved its task-oriented mission. Sure, this is an exaggerated example, but I’m relating it for training purposes.

Let’s now look at a battalion that has primacy of purpose rather than the task-oriented one described above.

The purpose-focused battalion is given orders to protect the convoy from attack so it can resupply the frontline troops. The battalion is told the attack will likely come from the north, but their primary purpose is to guard the convoy. Now, when the attack comes from the south, what happens? Of course—the battalion will protect the southern flank, destroy the enemy, and protect the convoy. By being “purpose” focused vs. “task” focused, the battalion has more freedom to make decisions and achieve what the true goals are.

Hopefully, you’re seeing the application of this mindset to the business world. Do you give your organization tasks or a purpose? If they’re given tasks, they’ll comply and perform the tasks. If they’re given a purpose, they have freedom to make decisions to achieve said goal. Their roles are more fulfilling, they’re more empowered, and the likelihood of you achieving your purpose goes up dramatically.

If you tell your team to create new products using new formulations coming out of your R&D group, they’ll do just that (even if R&D has nothing cool and innovative to offer). However, if instead the team knows that its purpose is to find innovative new products your customers will buy by the bucketload, they might seek out acquisitions and go to other business units to collaborate on new offerings. Primacy of purpose creates new degrees of freedom and helps ensure the team focuses on what really matters—the end result you desire.

Give your team a purpose and let them surprise you with their creativity. They’ll succeed more often and be happier in the process.

Published April 9, 2025, in The thoughtLEADERS Brief on LinkedIn.