I think this has to be one of my favourite quotes of all time. It comes from someone not renowned for their eloquence, the heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson, when he was asked by a reporter in the run up to a world title fight if he was worried about Evander Holyfield and his fight plan.
Given that a large chunk of my my career history has been taken up with communications strategy and planning, I’ve wondered if there’s anything we could take from Iron Mike’s words of wisdom.
The first thing to remember is that Holyfield won, despite him being a 15/2 outsider and regarded as something of a has-been. It was a brutal fight, and most commentators agree that Holyfield had the better strategy than Tyson. But had he simply rigidly stuck to his plan, especially after absorbing a crunching combination from Tyson just 30 seconds into the contest, it’s quite possible he would have lost. So here’s what I take out of it:
Despite everything going crazy, you should keep most of the plan. It’s probably only part of it that’s gone wrong. You may have a puffed up eye and half an ear but your arms and legs are still working so don’t stop moving, defending and throwing punches.
For me, I think this highlights a distinction between business strategy and communications planning. In most cases, when something goes wrong you should stick to your strategy of commercial ambition, target audience and desired behaviour change, but re-examine whether you are using the right insight, proposition or tonality to deliver it. Adapt the current plan to cope with the change, but rarely if ever is it profitable to throw it all out and start again.
The new plan needs to be executed right away. There’s no point thinking about training and strategy while you’re being punched in the face. Your ear hurts and your eyes are swelling so you need to think and make a decisive decision immediately. You can either to go for a knockout or stay away for a while, but you need to change direction fast or get punched in the face again.
In communications, that means rolling up your sleeves and being part of the solution, at times acting in a more directive manner than perhaps is normal. Your task is to ensure that stakeholders both understand the plan and convince them that they have the obligation and authority to execute it. If ever there was a time when it’s easier to ask forgiveness than seek permission, this is it.
In fact, it’s possible to have several plans that each come into play when the situation dictates it. Most winning organisations start with a plan that’s created in sufficient detail to win, but are prepared to adapt the more executional elements so that one punch in the mouth does not result in defeat.