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The Third Growth Option with Benno Duenkelsbuehler and Guests
Welcome to The Third Growth Option, where we're not just talking about growth—we're making it our mission.
At TGO, we understand that success isn't a fixed destination; it's an ongoing journey with twists, turns, and unexpected detours that take us to new places. Those moments are our Third Growth Options, where we throw away binary choices to create our own path.
Hosted by Benno Duenkelsbuehler, O.G #GrowthNerd, we're on a mission to redefine success inside and outside of business, one episode at a time. From humble beginnings to Fortune 500 companies, our stories are not just about business—it's about the relentless pursuit of greatness in every aspect of life.
With each episode, we don’t just want to share insights—we want to empower business owners across all frontiers to carve their own path to success, their way.
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The Third Growth Option with Benno Duenkelsbuehler and Guests
Strat Plan Acronyms - Choosing Your Favorite, Pros and Cons
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Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ?
Strategic planning works best when you treat it as two jobs: setting the big vision and mapping the step-by-step path to get there. The right framework—whether EOS, OGSP, or the 1-2-3 process—can make the difference between plans that collect dust and plans that actually deliver results.
• Separate “where we’re going” (strategy) from “how we’ll get there” (execution)
• Bring 5–12 people who cover your customer, operations, and finance angles
• Communicate with the 3 I’s: inform → involve → inspire
• Line up quick wins first so you build momentum while bigger projects take shape
• Roll out with a crawl-walk-run pace—don’t sprint into burnout
• Skip the usual traps: fuzzy communication and impossible deadlines
What’s worked—or flopped—for you in strategic planning? Let’s swap notes.
Always growing.
Benno Duenkelsbuehler
CEO & Chief Sherpa of (re)ALIGN
Strategic Planning Is Two Things
Speaker 1I see a lot of business folks , executives , struggle with strategic planning , right . So a couple of quick thoughts on strategic planning . First of all . It is not a thing . It is two things . Things separate the strategy , the you know 30,000 foot view of you know how can we win better , you know a year from now or three years from now . So separate that strategy from the planning part , which is the sort of reverse engineering , time and action calendars , gantt charts of how do you execute the strategy this week and this month and this year . You know one person at a time , one activity at a time , one department at a time , one month at a time
Choosing the Right Framework
Speaker 1. Secondly , you want to pick a process .
Speaker 1There's lots of good strategic planning processes , frameworks . I think EOS has a very good one . You know the vision traction organizer , the big rock meetings makes a lot of sense . You have the OGSP framework , which is objectives , goals , strategy and plans , budgets good framework . I'm partial to the strategic planning framework in my business , which is the one , two , three process . One is big picture strategy takes about a week or so to put together . Then the road mapping is the step . Number two , usually a month or so of reverse engineering and time and action calendars . And three is execution , which for us is not an afterthought but the whole point of doing
Key People and Communication
Speaker 1strategic planning . So I'd like to have between a handful and no more than a dozen people in the room developing the strategic plan or being in the strategic planning meetings so that you have all the main functions of the business represented , from customer facing to operations to financial perspective on the business , represented from , you know , customer facing to operations , to financial perspective on the business Also helps with buy-in and helps you make sure that you're not missing Important insights into the business . So have at least those three parts of the three-legged stool basically sales , operations and finance at a very high level , represented in the process .
Speaker 1And then some pitfalls to avoid . Poor communication is the big one , obviously , and you get poor communication if you don't have a good process . You don't have a good process , you don't have the right people in the room and you're not committed to starting and ending the strategic planning process . So you know really I like that the book in the book think outside the box bestseller 30 years ago that he talks about the three I's of communication , which is inform . You have to inform people in order to involve them . You have to involve people in order to inspire them . So inform them to involve them , involve them to inspire them . So the three I's around communication I I think are
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
Speaker 1an important part of strategic planning .
Speaker 1Avoid another pitfall to avoid is bad sequencing . You know . Make sure you identify some quick wins . Make sure that you know you adapt . Adopt a sort of crawl walk run thought process to executing strategic planning ideas so that you have some quick wins and you leave it more complex . You give them the time that is required . Don't try to execute a one-year very complex't . Don't try to do it in two weeks . It's going to fail , right ? Um , don't be intimidated by strategic
Final Advice and Call to Action
Speaker 1planning . Um , pick a good process . Have the right people in the room . Uh , would love to hear your thoughts on uh different uh things that have worked really well for you , or or a disaster . We can learn from those as well . Put your thoughts in the comment section . Dm me . I'd love to help out and make sure that you have a successful , a well-thought-out strategic plan that you can successfully execute . Good luck .
