A FAMOUS WWII British general, Bernard Montgomery, had two fundamental rules about fighting the North Africa campaign. One was to plan in great detail even though he knew the plan would never work out as intended. The other was to be better equipped than his adversary.

These sound like simple rules, but neither is that easy to follow. Better equipment requires time, and everyone wants a war to be won as fast as possible. “Don’t let glory-seekers push you off your time schedule,” was Montgomery’s view, because “they will if they can”. In business, the pressure to achieve results today is often at the expense of the longer term.

Disruptions – the new normal?