On October 14, 2020, Jay Izso released “Your Business Plan is a Military Mission – Michael Penney” on his podcast, A New Direction. The episode runs a little over an hour, at 1:05:44.
The premise
Izso opened the episode notes with a scenario. You are in the middle of a war, facing an enemy that wants to take everything from you. You would not just wake up one morning and figure it out as you go. You would ask what you need, what the enemy has, what the conditions are, and what your assets are. Then he turned it around:
And that is the way we should be thinking about our business. Shouldn’t we treat our business and business plan the same way?
Jay Izso, A New Direction episode notes
What the episode covered
Izso introduced Michael as a combat Marine veteran and the author and creator of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan, and wrote that Michael “doesn’t just believe so…he is convicted by it!”
The most surprising idea in the notes is how the plan defines the enemy:
In his 5 Paragraph Business Plan you will learn that your enemy is not your competition, it is not people, your enemy is the NEED your potential customers are hoping you will fulfill in your business and business plan.
A New Direction episode notes
They also talked about people. As you build your plan, Izso wrote, you may find that you do not have the right people to help you complete the mission.
Why it mattered then
The “enemy is the need” idea is the most distinctive part of the 5 Paragraph approach. It moves the focus away from beating competitors and toward serving customers. In a military order, the situation paragraph starts with the enemy. In Michael’s version, it starts with what the customer needs.
Izso, a business coach and speaker, closed the notes with the goal every owner shares: to be able to say “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!”
Looking back
The episode page is still up with a working player, six years later.
His service record: eight-plus years in Marine Corps infantry and three combat tours: two to Ramadi, Iraq, with 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines (2005-06 and 2007), and one to Kajaki and Sangin, Afghanistan, with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in 2011, where he led a section of advisors. Between those tours he served at Quantico as a weapons instructor. He left the Corps as a Sergeant with an honorable discharge.
This post is part of the From the Archive series, which collects Michael’s past media appearances in one place. See the full media archive.
Work with Michael
Marine veteran, TEDx speaker and author of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan. Bring him to your stage, wear the gear, or catch him live.