THE PRINCIPLE

The Boy Scouts were right: it pays to be prepared

Some people say you should act as though failure is impossible. While that’s admirable for its fighting spirit, I prefer the less zingy but more likely to succeed: ‘Act as though failure is unlikely, but have a Plan B just in case.’

What this means in practice is identifying each key component of the project and having at least a rough idea of what you could do in case things don’t go according to plan.

A British friend who is a public relations consultant based in Los Angeles learned this some years ago when she organised a Prince Andrew lookalike contest to coincide with his visit to that city. The contest was sponsored by a travel agency, and two local TV stations said they would send out camera crews to cover it. The day before the event I asked my friend how many people had signed up to participate in the contest. She said, ‘Oh, I haven’t asked for sign-ups, I assume they will just show up.’ I posed the question of just how embarrassed she (and her client) would be if no contestants actually came. We quickly came up with Plan B – her accountant, her nephew, a friend of mine and I would attend and, if necessary, take part in the contest.

On the day, there were only two legitimate contestants, and one of those was an elderly homeless man who happened to be passing. The prize was awarded to the other legitimate contestant, who at least was roughly the right age and height, and the contest got coverage mainly for the fact that most of the contestants looked absolutely nothing like Prince Andrew. But the stories did mention the sponsoring travel agency, so the mission was accomplished.

To concoct a Plan B strategy follow these four steps:

1. List the key actions required by you or others to create your project. This will need updating fairly frequently.
2. For each of the key actions, jot down who could help if needed, and how you could rearrange your schedule if necessary.
3. For each of the actions someone else has to carry out, jot down a back-up person or business that could be called upon in an emergency. For instance, I keep handy the addresses of a couple of print shops in case my usual supplier is too overwhelmed with big jobs.
4. If you are relying on crucial equipment, have a list of places that could repair or replace it if it goes wrong. I rely heavily on my computer so I have information handy about a couple of places where I can hire a temporary replacement quickly if my Mac needs to be repaired.

With luck, your Plan A will work out most of the time, but having a Plan B means that what otherwise would be emergencies become merely inconveniences. Plus you sleep better at night.