Launching is easy. Staying the course—and navigating the messy middle—takes the right crew, real communication, and the will to adapt.

Don’t settle for a desert island.

Your product vision has been created!

The business is supercharged!

You have broad buy-in from leadership (well done!).

Your customers are raving about the beautiful island of abundance and value that you've shown them!

Let's go!

Now it's time to start the journey. We can tell you that it won't be an easy one. We can show you the beach where you'll launch your boat. We can even help you build that damn boat and launch it to sea.

Warning: There will be storms. You'll get tossed and turned. It can get scary. You'll forget where you need to go. You might start to consider just landing on some errant desert island you see along your route!

Is this really where you want to go? It might seem like a good idea to just stay there, hoping there's enough fish between the rocks on the shore, enough edible plant life to maintain you and your customers (sorry, no mangoes or sushi).

The messy middle (your time at sea) can be quite intimidating. You never know what to expect. Leadership can and will falter, vision becomes blurred, priorities shift.

The reality is, you need to anticipate this and be prepared to change course a bit along the way. The point on the horizon will probably shift, but at least you'll be confident you're heading the right direction.

What do you do?

Keep your hand on the till. We'll get there together. We've been there before. Many times.

- Keep the channels of communication open: Semaphore, wireless (or Slack/Teams if it makes more sense). Having a communication strategy is VITAL. Tribal memories are short. It's common for the short-term compromise to get conflated with the ideal end state (OMG - this is what we worked so hard for??).

- Be open to suggestions, criticism, guidance from the best and most talented, experienced, and informed: Don’t forget that you're not on this journey alone. No one is expecting you to do everything yourself.

- You'll need the best crew: You’ll want a mix of standard bearers and hired shipmates. Insiders always do better when they have objective opinions and outsider insights.

Trials at sea will make the team stronger, more resilient, and more responsive to changing conditions. Keeping the team together for the long haul bears fruit in the form of high-test collaboration, synergy, low context communication, and shared commitment.

There are small victories on the open water you need to celebrate when the storms darken the sky. Don’t forget to reflect on progress with the team and keep the communication optimistic and upbeat. Challenges and problems should generate discussion and solutions, not whining sessions...

Land-ho!

When we finally get there, our first stop will be to get a tattoo together!

If you get to your tropical paradise (roadmap realized!), you are in the remarkable minority of voyagers. You'll make new friends, open new chapters, and feel better about the next journey ahead.