It would be tough to find someone more enthusiastic about the value of planning than me… after all, I’ve devoted my career to exploring the art and science of planning in strategic communications.
Mind you, my own experience also illustrates that sometimes, despite the best laid plans, things move in a direction that can be unpredictable, surprising, and downright scary.
Case in point: Globe and Mail Report on Business features an article on accidental entrepreneurs that includes yours truly. It recounts the rather unusual story of my business’ genesis – how I became an entrepreneur as a result of being laid off from Nortel Networks in 2001, on the morning of the September 11th World Trade Centre attacks. Oh yeah, and I was three months pregnant at the time.
Up until then, I was quite confident that I had my career path all figured out. And of course, I was wrong.
While this “accidental” lesson in the limits of planning was certainly a shock to the system, it did teach me about the possibilities of opportunity, of resilience, and of unleashing the passion to pursue the path less traveled. It’s been an invaluable education, and one that I’m most grateful to have received.
