September 22, 2011

The 1 Hour Plan

for Growth

How a Single Sheet of Paper Can

Take Your Business to the Next Level
Joe Calhoon
2011 by Joe Calhoon
Adapted by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-0-470-88096-8

Introduction
Business planning documents are often too long,
unclear, and uninspiring. However, in The 1 Hour
Plan for Growth, Joe Calhoon proposes a method for
developing a business growth plan in one hour that
can be written on a single sheet of paper. During the
process, business leaders must ask themselves where
they want their businesses to go, analyze the current
status of their business, and consider how they will
bridge the difference between the two states. The
book is a call for business managers to leadin their
organizations and in their lives. The planning process
attempts to narrow the gap between the way companies perform and the way business leaders would like
them to perform. It also helps readers plan to change
how they live their lives to make them reflect on how
they would like to live them. According to Calhoon,
the future depends on strong leadership from businesspeople who invest their energy to grow better

businesses, create more jobs, and provide greater

value for the community.

A Call to Lead
Leaders are finding that their roles are becoming
much more challenging. The need for strong, effective, and moral leadership has never been greater,
especially in business. For our society to be successful
in the future, businesspeople must answer the call to
lead, to envision a better future, and work with others
to make that vision come to life.
Growing a business can provide several benefits,
such as greater job security, increased personal
wealth, more value for customers, and more jobs. To
ensure their businesses are growing, business leaders
need an effective growth planning system. Calhoon
provides a path for businesses to achieve growth.
However, when business leaders develop an extraor-

Business Book Summaries September 22, 2011 Copyright 2011 EBSCO Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved

The 1 Hour Plan for Growth

dinary business without living an extraordinary life,

they miss out on so much. Therefore, before explaining his method, Calhoon detours the readers journey
in order to put the plan in perspective, sharing ideas
that help business leaders live a better life and build a
better business at the same time.
The work most people accomplish is just one segment
among many that make up the balance of their lives.
Business and work activities must be balanced with
other parts of life and kept in proper perspective.
Business leaders who build a better life have a greater
capacity to build a better business. Additionally, as
they build a better business, they have more financial
resources to enjoy a better life. Calhoon suggests that
to build a better life, people should (1) identify their
calling, (2) develop their capacity, and (3) use their
unique strengths and passions to contribute to others
lives.
Identify a calling: Each person has unique strengths
and a particular passion that usually points to his
or her ideal vocation. Top people in organizations
usually rise there by identifying their strengths and
focusing their efforts in areas they can most effectively
contribute. It is also important for business leaders to
identify what they are passionate about in their vocation, or what makes them come alive when at work.
Proactively combining strengths and passion can lead
a business leader to the right vocation.
Develop capacities: The extent that business leaders
can contribute and be rewarded in life is determined
by their capacities. When any one capacity in
neglected or distressed, a business leader can veer
from his path, losing energy, drive, or zeal. The following capacities are important factors in a business
leaders ability to perform:
Physical capacity. Stay healthy, maintain good nutrition, and keep physically active.
Mental capacity. Set realistic learning goals, sustain
motivation, and develop new knowledge.
Spiritual capacity. Nurture the spiritual and moral
aspects of life that help develop extraordinary
character.
Relational capacity. Develop people skills and learn
how to relate well to others.

Joe Calhoon

Key Concepts
The 1 Hour Plan for Growth offers a method for
developing a business growth plan in one hour
that can be written on a single sheet of paper.
The process includes:
Developing a vision statement that is measurable, achievable, and inspiring.
Defining a mission statement that explains
the unique contribution that the organization makes to its customers lives.
Establishing the organizations values and
standards of behavior.
Creating measurable and well-defined objectives that will help it measure its success and
organizational performance.
Analyzing the big issues that must be addressed.
Distinguishing and focusing on a few strategies that will make the most significant
impact on its future.
Setting priorities, which might include goals
that the company wants to achieve, problems that it wants solved, or capacities that it
wants to develop.
After the business growth plan is complete,
business leaders usually develop action plans
that help them achieve priorities.
g g g g

Information about the author and subject:

www.joecalhoon.com
Information about this book and other business titles:
www.wiley.com
Related summaries in the BBS Library:
When Growth Stalls
How It Happens, Why Youre Stuck &
What to Do About It
Steve McKee

Business Book Summaries September 22, 2011 Copyright 2011 EBSCO Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved

Page 2

The 1 Hour Plan for Growth

Financial capacity. Learn to live well within ones

means and manage money wisely.

Joe Calhoon

take the time to plan. Most companies conduct a

long, time-consuming planning effort that involves

Contribute to others: Business Why should you create a business growth plan? Before you
leaders should consider how
go on a trip, you determine your destination and plan out the
they can give in different aspects
of their lives: in business, in fami- best route. The clearer and more exciting your destination, the
lies, and in communities. Giving greater the likelihood you will have a successful and enjoycan take the form of service, able journey. Unfortunately, most businesses lack the joy and
financial assistance, encourageenergy that comes with having an inspiring destination for their
ment, knowledge, forgiveness,
energy, or other gifts. Business people[W]ithout planning, you lose more than an inspiring
leaders can improve the qual- goal.
ity of their lives as they focus on
few people and produces a plan that sits on the shelf
making contributions to others lives.
without actually impacting organizational perforThe One-Hour Plan
mance. Calhoon offers his planning methodology to
Effective planning strengthens a businesss people,
overcome some of these typical problems with planproductivity, and profitability, yet few companies
ning. Businesses that use his method engage their
employees, investing only hours rather than weeks
in developing a single-sheet plan, which they use to
keep themselves on track and help set, achieve, and
celebrate their priorities more efficiently.

About the Author

During the past 25 years, Joe Calhoon has delivered more than 2,500 experiences to over 500
organizationsproviding tools and guidance
needed to develop higher performing organizations. His proven process for business growth
has allowed clients to significantly increase revenues in one year. Calhoons clients include a
wide range of small and mid-size organizations
as well as Fortune 100 companies. As a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), designated
through the National Speakers Association, Calhoon communicates the principles and practices
of leadership effectiveness and organizational
performance with an entertaining, educational,
and inspirational style. During the 1990s, Calhoon was one of the most requested and highest
rated keynote speakers with the FranklinCovey
Co. He knows the importance of synergy, communication, and effectiveness and brings this
experience to every client interaction. Calhoon
is the president of PriorityAdvantage and has
co-authored other books on business growth.

Calhoons process involves three steps: (1) identify

the vision, mission, and objectives of the business, (2)
assess the current status of the business, and (3) create
strategies, set priorities, and develop action plans to
move the business from the present to the planned
future. Business leaders should involve their teams in
the planning process to ensure they are involved and
committed to the fulfilling the plan. The plan does not
have to be complicated; Calhoon suggests six planning elements distributed across three time frames:
Long term (5 to 25 years): These elements create a
foundation upon which the rest of the plan rests.
Businesses should develop a vision to inspire the
company, develop a mission to define the companys purpose, and develop shared values to set the
standard of behavior so employees enjoy working
together.
Mid-term (1 to 3 years): Businesses should develop growth-focused objectives to help measure their
success, as well as develop strategies to determine
which categories of work need to be done.
Short term (30 to 90 days): Businesses should
establish priorities to help define problems to be
solved, goals to be achieved, and capacities to be

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The 1 Hour Plan for Growth

developed. Priorities define who does what and

by what date.
Businesses can use six proven planning steps to take
their organization to the next level:
1. Develop a business growth plan that fits on one
sheet of paper.
2. Prioritize tasks to be accomplished in 30 to 90
days.
3. After 30 to 90 days, celebrate progress, review the
plan, and establish new priorities for the next 30
to 90 days.

Joe Calhoon

The vision statement, at this point, is good enough for

initial planning steps and can be refined later. Businesses can determine if they have an effective vision
statement if it contains a measurable goal, such as
gross revenue levels, profit goals, or customer satisfaction measures. The vision statement should also
be achievablechallenging, but not impossible.
Vision statements should also meet three criteria: (1)
it should define what the business does best, (2) it
should describe what the organization is passionate
about, and (3) it should drive the organizations financial performance.

After developing a vision statement, each business

should define its mission statementa clear and
compelling statement of why the organization exists.
A good mission statement defines the unique contri5. After one year, develop a new business growth
bution that the organization makes to its customers
plan that fits on one sheet of paper.
lives. As a powerful statement of the organizations
6. Repeat the prioritization and review processes
purpose, the mission statement tells employees and
(steps 2 through 5).
customers why the organization
A single sheet of paper is enough to describe your organizations does what it does. It motivates
the businesss staff by defining the
Vision, Mission, Values, Objectives, and Strategies, plus help value the organization provides to
focus an individuals Priorities.
its customers. Moreover, it keeps
everyone focused on what is most
importantserving
customers. Too often, people
Developing Vision, Mission,
describe an organizations mission as making money
and Objectives
for the owner. However, people are beginning to
Each organization should develop a concise word
realize that the mission of every successful company
picture of its ideal future. This vision should be
should be to serve customers.
measurable, achievable, and inspiring. The vision
Mission statements often reflect the spiritual beliefs
communicates what the organization wants to
of the business leaders or owners. The statement
become by providing the criteria for strategic decision
incorporates their highest aspirations and holds them
making, the inspiration for higher levels of contribuaccountable to live up to their statement; to do othtion and performance, and a compass that points the
erwise would be hypocritical. Successful business
business in the right direction.
leaders are committed to ensure that the businesss
Businesses can develop their visions by answering the
vision, mission, and values became an integral part of
following questions:
the organizations culture.
How good does the business want its organization
When a business has defined its vision and mission
to be?
statements, the next step is to define the organizations
What does the business provide in terms of servaluesthose standards of behavior and code of convices or products?
duct that help teams enjoy working together. When
senior leaders display the values in their behavior and
Which customers and markets does the business
attitudes, they help integrate the values into the orgaserve?
nizational culture.
What is the geographic scope of the business?
4. Continue this process every 30 to 90 days until the
end of the year.

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The 1 Hour Plan for Growth

Leaders should hold themselves and their employees

accountable to the organizations values. Wise leaders
develop the talents of their employees and empower
them to bring value to others. Business leaders who
serve their employees needs more then their own
are more likely to retain their best employees. The
organizations values provide a foundation that
helps organizational members prevent and resolve
interpersonal issues. They also create a high-trust,
high-performing culture, becoming the basis for
building strong relationships both inside and outside
the organization.

Joe Calhoon

on a few strategies that will make the most significant impact on its future. An organization can start
the process by identifying five to ten major issues that
it must address in order to grow its business; then, it
can rank them in order of importance. Next, a business should list each of those issues in one of eight
strategy categories:
Human resources
Physical resources
Financial resources
Innovation

With the vision and mission statements and a descrip Marketing and sales
tion of its values in place, the business must define
Productivity/delivery
the objectives that will help it measure its success
Profit requirements
and organizational performance. Objectives provide
a balanced set of measures that help business lead Social responsibility
ers take their business to the
next level. They define targets Effective leaders understand the vital importance of objectives.
for future growth and stimulate What gets measured gets doneThe importance of strategies is
higher achievement levels. They
validated by a Harvard University study...[which] found that
also provide reasons to celebrate
when goals have been accom- having clearly defined, well-communicated strategies is the
plished.
most important element of business success.
Writing objectives involves three
simple steps: (1) Businesses should determine what
they want to measure, (2) how they want to measure
it, and then (3) set the actual objective. For example, an
organization might want to measure its market share
by determining the percentage of business it receives
from the total business conducted in its market area. It
might set its objective at 60 percent. Then, businesses
need to design their incentive programs to support
the vision, mission, and values of their organizations.
Behaviors that support the goals of the organization
need to be rewarded, and rewarded consistently. Wise
business leaders do not promote one type of behavior
with value statements and then reward other types of
behavior.

Creating Strategies, Setting Priorities,

and Developing Action Plans
After a business defines its vision, mission, values,
and objectives, it needs to assess the current state of
the organization and determine the big issues that
must be addressed. The activity of identifying these
critical areas leads a business to distinguish and focus

From these categories, the organization can establish priorities for objectives. An example of the
process would include an identification of issues in
the physical resources category, such as inadequate
technology, lack of proper equipment, and underutilized space. The physical resources strategy might be:
to equip people with the tools to succeed by providing appropriate technology, equipment, and better
space utilization. Based on the issues, the organization might set some priority objectives, such as: the
IT Manager will make recommendations regarding
technology upgrades within four weeks, the Facilities
Manager will redesign and reorganize the office space
to better utilize space within three weeks, and the
Purchasing Manager will obtain a new space-efficient
printer within 2 weeks. Good business leaders are
those who can focus on the few things that will have
the greatest impact on improving their businesses.
Strategies are the most important element of a business
growth plan, which is the reason many of these plans
are called strategic plans. They provide a pathway for

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The 1 Hour Plan for Growth

leaders to reach their visions and fulfill their missions.

To define a strategy, business leaders can refer to
their list of strategy categories and the issues within
them. Then, they can clearly define what they want to
accomplish in that categorylike a mini-vision statement. With this end in mind, business leaders define
their strategic choices and how they will accomplish
them. For example, a business leader might examine
the issues in the human resources strategy area. He
or she might have the following end in mind: build
a high performance team. Using the words by or
through, he or she completes the entire strategy
statement, which becomes Build a high performance
team through hiring. Following this process for the
five to ten goals that he or she wants to accomplish in
each strategy category, a business leader can quickly
develop strategies that become part of his or her business growth plan.

Joe Calhoon

ment in order to serve customers efficiently and

effectively. Business leaders should invest wisely
in physical resources to enhance the customer
experience.
Financial resources. Business leaders need to develop a strong relationship with a bank. In some
cases, the organization is a good candidate for
seeking investments from private investors, private equity funding, or venture capital. Business
leaders should obtain a convenient, affordable
line of credit to prepare for tougher times when
adversity might strike.
Innovation. Without innovation, a business ceases
to exist. Business leaders who want to develop
and implement an innovation strategy should
consider how they can improve their products
and/or services and how they can develop new
ones. Innovation involves shifting
to plan. So, why economic resources out of an area
that was too short. of lower productivity into an area
of higher productivity and yield.

It takes as much energy to wish as it does

not plan? Weve rarely seen a business plan
We have seen hundreds that would make an acceptable cure for
insomnia. Heres the good newswe have never encountered
a business that couldnt fit their plan on a single sheet of paper.
Calhoon provides several ideas in each of the eight
strategy categories to help business leaders develop
strategies that will encourage productive and profitable organizations:
Human resources. Business leaders should
determine if they are hiring the right people and
placing them in the right positions, based on their
talents and passions. They should ensure they
hire carefully, thoughtfully, and patiently, and
provide proper training. Leaders should enable
strong communication links in the organization
and ensure employees are managed effectively,
given incentives to perform at the highest levels,
and rewarded for their achievements.
Physical resources. Business leaders can make
a statement with their organizations physical
resources about their brand, even before their
customers ever encounter their people. When
developing strategy in this area, leaders should
consider whether they have provided their employees with cost-effective technology and equip-

Marketing and sales. Both

marketing and sales efforts create
an expectation of some sort of
benefit for the customer. Business
leaders developing marketing and sales strategies
should determine their ideal customer, the value
the company provides to that customer, and how
the value will be delivered. Having an accurate
and up-to-date customer database is important.
Strategies in this area should also focus on what
the company promises to the customerits brand
messageand which channels are used to communicate with the customer.

Productivity/delivery. Strategies in this area focus

on how well the company is serving the customer
and solving their problems. Setting and monitoring standards of performance is critical. Business
leaders should also review workflow systems
to determine areas needing improvement and
training that workers might need. These strategies
should also include a post-delivery review to gain
valuable feedback.
Profit requirements. Healthy businesses focus
on their return on investment (ROI). Profit measurements help leaders determine how well the

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Page 6

The 1 Hour Plan for Growth

company is performing and growing. Profit also

provides capital for future innovation and growth.
Strategies in this area focus on developing an
annual financial business plan, finding competent CPAs and bankers to work with, improving accounts-receivable and accounts-payable
processes, and educating the management team
about financial measurements and goals.
Social Responsibility. Often, successful business owners feel they have been entrusted with
so much and want to give to the less fortunate.
Strategies in this area involve making decisions
about how much to give and to whom. Businesses
sometimes decide to partner with a charity. Alternatively, leaders can focus on providing leadership in the community, and encourage employees
to become involved in service activities.

Joe Calhoon

a matrix with significant impact along one axis and

urgency along the other, creating four quadrants. The
quadrants identify where the business leader should
direct his attention and effort for the most effect:
Quadrant 1. These tasks have a significant impact
on the business growth plan and are also urgent.
They usually get done.
Quadrant 2. These tasks have a significant impact
on the business growth plan but have no urgent
time pressures. These activities should be made a
priority.
Quadrant 3. These tasks do not make a significant
impact on the business growth plan and are not
important; however, there is an urgency associated with them. Business leaders should not confuse urgent tasks with important ones and should
minimize these activities.

Part of the process of developing strategies is to set

Quadrant 4. These tasks are neither urgent nor
priorities. Priorities might include goals that the comsignificant to the business growth plan. Busipany wants to achieve, problems that it wants solved,
ness leaders should not waste their time on these
or capacities that it wants to develop. Typically, prioractivities.
ities are missing from many business plans. However,
they should always be included,
as they easily provide a focus for Priorities are the missing element of most business growth
employees to achieve milestone plans. Priorities provide focus for people to achieve the importasks that grow the business,
tant tasks to grow your business; an opportunity for people to
while the employees enhance
enhance their competence, character, and confidence; [and] spetheir competence, character, and
confidence. Each priority is a cific actions to deal with your organizational issues.
specific action that deals with
organizational issues.
When companies do not define their priorities, their
leaders, employees, and organizations waste incredAn effective process for writing priorities involves
ible amounts of time and underserve their customers,
four steps: (1) start the sentence with a verb that
fellow coworkers, and stakeholders. After the prioridescribes a completion action, (2) make it measurties have been established, the business growth plan
able or observable, (3) end it with a specific date, and
is complete. Prioritizing tasks helps business leaders
(4) assign the responsibility for completion to one
achieve success. However, to consistently succeed,
person. That one person does not do all the work;
achievers realize that they cannot waste their energy
he or she is just responsible to ensure that the work
thinking about the effort needed to complete tasks.
is completed. An example of an effective priority
Instead, they use their energy reserves to propel
statement is Hire a new salesperson by December
themselves to get the effort started and let the force of
18assigned to Thomas. In this statement, Hire is
the task take over.
an action verb, a new salesperson is observable, by
December 18 sets a specific date, and assigned to
After the business growth plan is complete, business
Thomas assigns the responsibility.
leaders should develop action plans. These plans provide the necessary clarity to help leaders take action,
Setting priorities allows business leaders to use their
manage their time more effectively, and make progtime more effectively. Activities can be charted on
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Page 7

The 1 Hour Plan for Growth

ress. Strategies help leaders achieve the company

vision, and an action plan lays out step by step how
the company will achieve its vision. It focuses efforts
in the right direction and provides the right amount
of oversight for each project. Well-constructed action
plans allow the person responsible for implementing
it to show how he or she is making progress.
When business leaders engage their entire team in
the planning process, they enhance the overall working experience by moving toward the same goals and
achieving extraordinary results as a team. Getting the
organizational teams involved in the planning process fosters a sense of commitment. It also provides
an opportunity for team members to develop leadership skills and offer their best ideas. Three steps can
be used to engage the organization in the creation of
the companys business growth plan:

Joe Calhoon

concepts in the book. Calhoon also provides an alternative fast-path through the book that lets readers get
started right away on planning. Other readers can
read the entire book to gain an in-depth knowledge
of the plan, including several strategies to grow their
businesses. Additional appendices provide resources
for business leaders who want to involve their teams
in the process, thereby gaining greater commitment
from team members.

Contents
Foreword by Stephen R. Covey
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Are You Ready to Get Started?
Part I: Planning for Growth
Chapter 1: The Shortcut

1. Assemble the right team.

Chapter 2: An Overview of the One Hour Plan

2. Develop the business growth plan annually

Part II: Where Do You Want to Go?

3. Celebrate achievements and progress toward

completion while setting new priorities each
month.

Chapter 3: Vision: What Big Goal Will Inspire You

and Your Team? (6 minutes)

According to Calhoon, leaders in all sectors of the

market are building extraordinary businesses and
living extraordinary lives. He believes that leaders
who follow his method can do the same.
g g g g

Features of the Book

Reading Time: 2.5 hours, 224 pages
In The 1 Hour Plan for Growth, Joe Calhoon outlines a method for developing a one-page business
plan within one hour, overcoming the perception
that business planning is a difficult, time-consuming,
and ineffective process. He relates the process used
for planning business growth to the efforts business people should take to plan for personal growth.
Businesspeople who find themselves extremely
busy, yet unproductive, will benefit from learning
Calhoons method in order to better serve their customers, employees, and stakeholders. Written with
an easy-to-read, casual tone, the book provides personal anecdotes and case studies that illustrate the

Chapter 4: The Customer-Centered Mission Statement: What Contribution Do You Make to Your
Customers Lives? (6 minutes)
Chapter 5: Values: What Standards Will Help Your
Team Enjoy Working Together? (6 minutes)
Chapter 6: Objectives: How Will You Measure Success? (7 minutes)
Part III: Where Are You Now?
Chapter 7: Facing the Brutal Realities: What Are the
Big Issues that Must Be Addressed? (10 minutes)
Part IV: How Will You Get from Here to There?
Chapter 8: Strategies: What Are the Major Categories
of Work to Be Done? (15 minutes)
Chapter 9: Priorities: Who Will Do What by When?
(10 minutes)
Chapter 10: Action Plans: Putting It on the Calendar
and Getting It Done
Part V: Engaging Your Team
Chapter 11: Whats Next?: How to Create and Execute

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The 1 Hour Plan for Growth

Joe Calhoon

a Team Plan for Years to Come

Appendix 1Organizational Health Assessment
Appendix 2How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis
About the Author
Additional Planning Resources

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The 1 Hour Plan for Growth

Joe Calhoon

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