Big Goals Donât Fail. Leaders DoâBecause They Have No Plan. Fix It in 90 Days or Quit Pretending You Care
Letâs be realâmost âtransformationalâ plans die faster than your New Yearâs gym membership. A year-long goal to âimprove company cultureâ or âenhance leadershipâ sounds inspiring⌠until July rolls around, your team is still pissed off, and youâre staring at your 47th PowerPoint deck with zero results.
Why? Because massive goals without short-term wins are like trying to eat an entire elephant in one sittingâyouâll choke on it. Hard.
Hereâs the truth: Change is hard. Culture change? Leadership reform? Thatâs like trying to teach a cat to do cartwheels. But itâs not impossibleâyou just need to stop thinking in bloated annual terms and start focusing on 90-day sprints.
Hereâs how you fix the rot and actually get shit done:
Step 1: Break Your Big, Lofty Goal Into Realistic 90-Day Chunks
Stop saying crap like âWeâll overhaul our leadership team this yearâ or âWeâll create a culture of trust and accountability.â Thatâs fluff. You canât overhaul trust or leadership overnight. Instead, break it into 90-day sprints:
đš Sprint 1: Identify the cracksâconduct culture audits, gather feedback, and uncover where the rotâs coming from. No sugarcoating.
đš Sprint 2: Train the damn leadersâmentoring, coaching, and forcing them to stop managing and start leading.
đš Sprint 3: Build trust with actual actionsâfix processes, celebrate accountability, and stop tolerating mediocrity.
đš Sprint 4: Optimize and scaleâcreate systems where good culture isnât an accident, itâs the default.
Suddenly, the Everest-sized problem becomes manageable. Bite-sized. Youâre eating that elephant, one sprint at a time. đ
Step 2: Set Measurable Milestones (Because Vague Plans Are Useless)
You canât fix what you canât measure. âBetter communicationâ isnât a milestoneâitâs corporate nonsense. Set tangible, specific wins every 30 days.
đ Example:
Month 1: 100% of leaders complete feedback training.
Month 2: Launch one-on-one check-ins to build trust.
Month 3: Score a 20% increase in team morale via surveys (and read the damn surveys).
Clarity isnât optionalâit's mandatory. If your milestones canât be measured, youâre just playing office buzzword bingo.
Step 3: Take Weekly Actions That Move the Needle đŻ
Most leaders are busy âbeing busyââwhich is code for wasting time. Your weekly actions need to be surgical. If the goal is leadership mentoring, then:
đš Week 1: Train leaders on active listening.
đš Week 2: Implement one actionable feedback loop.
đš Week 3: Address one toxic behavior thatâs killing culture (yes, confront it).
đš Week 4: Track changes and celebrate improvements.
3-5 actions per week. No fluff. No distractions. If itâs not driving change, itâs wasted energy.
Step 4: Review, Adjust, and Own Your Fuck-Ups
At the end of each sprint, stop pretending everythingâs fine. Did you hit the goals? If not, why? Were you too soft? Were timelines unrealistic? Did Bob from accounting sabotage morale with his snarky comments? Own it.
The post-mortem isnât about assigning blameâitâs about finding what works and doubling down. Reflect, adjust, and sharpen your next 90-day plan. Progress happens when you face the ugly truth and pivot, not when you keep circling the drain.
The Bottom Line: Sprints Work Because Big Goals Are Bullshit Without Execution
Hereâs the deal: Companies rot because leaders make bloated plans, wave them around in town halls, and then quietly abandon them three months later. Stop the madness. Break the goal into sprints, set measurable wins, and take focused weekly actions.
You can create a culture of trust. You can transform leadership. But itâs not going to happen by talking about it for 12 months while everyone tunes out. Sprints force urgency, accountability, and momentum.
So whatâs your first 90-day sprint going to fix?
Inspired by the folks who think big goals get done without breaking them down. Spoiler alert: They donât. đ
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