ìIt's no longer business as usual,î says Tony Jeary. ìThe biggest piece of advice I can give is the necessity for being really clear about where you are going, based on what you know today and making sure that you cascade that to your entire organization.î For more than 20 years Tony Jeary, author of Strategic Acceleration: Succeed at the Speed of Life, has been coach to the world's top CEOs.

His clients include Wal-Mart, Firestone, Shell, Samsung, New York Life, and the United States Senate. He has focused his career on helping others to discover strategic clarity in their business vision, develop focus on direction, and create powerful execution strategies that dramatically impact achievement and results. His work is a culmination of years of studying the distinguishing characteristics of successful CEOs and high-achieving entrepreneurs, including the leaders of the organizations mentioned above.

Tony's mantra is, ì… to give value and to do more than is expected.î It is a value that his father taught him at an early age. Tony says, ìI have lived by that principle and it has been the key to my own success in good times and bad. Exceeding expectations is the means by which value is created and things get sold. You can exceed expectations in price, quality or serviceóand possibly all threeóbut you must understand what it really means to exceed expectations before you can actually do it.î

The first thing to understand about exceeding expectations, Tony says, is that the expectations you exceed today become the seed for new opportunities in the future. However, many people fail to connect today's actions with future opportunities. Instead, they approach exceeding expectations as a one-off event rather than a way of life.

Exceeding expectations, on the other hand, is a fundamental attitude, something to be pursued daily. It becomes tougher when you realize that exceeding expectations requires more effort to surpass what might be described as ìacceptable performance.î Acceptable performance is, in fact, mediocrity and mediocrity is usually the norm. The problem is it's hard to sell mediocrity. But, Tony says, ìIf you can do something for your customer that not only exceeds their expectations, but also empowers them to exceed the expectations of their customers, you have enhanced your value tremendously.î

High-powered executives visit Tony's unique ìSuccess Acceleration Studioî in the backyard of his estate in the Dallas/Fort Worth areaóa space that can be set up as a mock boardroomóto discuss how to apply Tony's notion of exceeding expectations in their own businesses. Invariably, the discussion gets around to the key principles of exceeding expectations.

First, it's important to recognize that business as usual is not an option. America voted for change in the last election, change is coming, and it will radically transform the way American businesses function. People must accept that success is likely to become a moving target in a rapidly changing environment that eliminates the luxury of fixed, long-term planning. Leaders must therefore learn to evaluate, test, and revise their plans several times a year to remain ahead of the change curve. This means the leader must even be prepared to reevaluate the purpose and value of the organization's vision to ensure that it matches the needs of customers and prospective customers.

Jeary says it's vital to ìtake your vision and create a visual representation of that vision so the whole company can understand the distinctions of the direction.î One example of a visual strategy in action is the one Jeary helped great with Greatwide Logistic Services. Greatwide, one of the largest trucking companies in the country with more than $1 billion in revenue, worked with Jeary to revolutionize their business. ìEvery person needs to be at peak performance and be dealing with those distractions focusing their efforts on what's going to get the results of that vision.î

In turn, re-planning will require that leaders blow up organizational comfort zonesóways of doing things that the comfort of prosperity has ingrained but that no longer work. To bring about such radical change, organizations must conduct a re-planning sessions versus just a review. Since things are changing so fast, it's key to identify activities that have high impact (and need to be increased) and those that don't (and need to be decreased.)

Above all, leaders must adhere to the overriding ethic of committing to exceeding expectations and providing value if they really want to succeed in a fast moving business environment. And because every minute counts in this demanding environment, executives literally fly into Fort Worth's Alliance Airport and are driven to Tony's state-of-the-art facility where they spend 6-7 hours before flying backóall to exceed their own expectations.

7 THINGS LEADERS MUST DO TO SURVIVE

1. Recognize that business-as-usual is not an option.

2. Evaluate, test, and revise plans several times a year.

3. Take your vision and put it into a visual model.

4. Identify and blow up organizational comfort zones.

5. Identify and amplify high impact activities.

6. Abandon activities that won't move the strategic results needle.

7. Commit to exceeding expectations and providing value.

Reach Tony at www.strategicacceleration.com to help you or your organization. Find out your Strategic I.Q. at Strategic I.Q.com