Harold Macmillan is attributed to saying this in the early 1960s when he was the UK Prime Minister, in relation to a question something like "What is most likely to knock your government off course?”
Of course, the question and the answer are applicable to almost everything we do.
This morning, I had to stay at home instead of going to work for face-to-face meetings because I was somewhat unwell.
So, the 2-hour budget meeting that I have at this time of year with Hayley (our managing director) to try to sign off the budget for the next year had to be on a Slack huddle instead of face-to-face. It doesn't matter; Hayley and I learned how to do this a lot during COVID, which didn't really diminish the quality of what we were going through.
I made the mistake of asking the most ridiculous question: “What are the unexpected costs we can expect for next year?” before we both laughed at how ridiculous that is.
Budgeting is critical in business management; it's far more than critical, it’s absolutely life-changing and lifesaving in many situations. But it's not crystal ball gazing and predicting the future, writing down what you expect in some sort of scientific way, generally using some sort of spreadsheet system or another, gives you comfort and lets you be realistic and assess your possible options for the future.
It in no way controls events and it in no way guarantees success, it gives you a staging post, usually on a month-by-month basis to try to get to, and to decide whether you were too slow or too fast, too high or too low, in the right place or in the wrong place.
In short, it allows you to reflect and adjust; far more important than the ability to financially manage is the ability to be agile in the face of events.
Blog Post Number - 4404
Colin Campbell, Chris Barrow, and an intrepid group of dentists will be cycling across the plains of Tanzania from Kilimanjaro in early February 2026. If you would like to support the charity, Bridge to Aid, and this extraordinary challenge, please click here.
Thank you for your generosity.
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