This is the time for annual planning sessions, and many business leaders are pulling their teams together for a strategic retreat. But why do we call it a retreat? Retreat is a negative word synonymous with withdraw, relinquish, and concede. Is that your frame of mind as your organization plans the coming year? I don’t think so.

Forget the retreat. Lead your organization on a strategic advance. Plan how to advance your purpose and achieve your goals. Assess your current position, identify the target, and push forward. That’s what you really hope to do, so call it what it is.

“There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.” (John F. Kennedy)