Memo to Successor

Dear Mr. Smith,

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the lessons I have learned during the past 30 years of success I have enjoyed with this company. As you can imagine, there have been many changes over the last 30 year in the company due to changes in society and marketing avenues. Thankfully, we have been able to adapt to these changes, but it has not always been easy.

I have seen from your qualifications that you are more than capable to accept the challenges that lie ahead, but I thought it might be helpful to have some advice from someone who has been there from time to time. Throughout the years, I have found it helpful to use carefully planned strategies to keep ahead of the competition in today’s continually changing world.

This process can be lengthy, but it is worth it in the end. You must first analyze the company’s strengths and weakness, and then project a goal of where you would like the company to be in the future. Once that part is finished, you should analyze the external environment for any possible threats that could cause your plan to fail. After you are all set with your plan, it is time to set goals for the departments involved. Once they have their goal and are working toward them, it is time to assess where the shortfalls might be between what is expected and what is actually achieved. After these have been identified, it is time to communicate with the departments with short-falls and ask them for a proposal on how they might achieve the original goals or they might suggest new ones. These can be very helpful since they are on the front line and know how things work within their department. It is important to take their suggestions and see if they can fit into the corporate need defined in the first steps of this process. Once these plans are approved, you will then create a budget for them, implement them, and monitor them for effectiveness. Now it is time to evaluate