In the mid-1990’s, Prudential, then one of the world’s largest insurance and financial services companies, announced it planned to go public.
It had been a mutual insurance company owned for over 100 years by its policyholders. It was seeking access to the public markets to expand its financial services portfolio. Its IPO was on December 13, 2001, raising $3.03 billion.
Through much of the mid-1990’s, everyone in the company, from the janitors to the CEO, had one goal. Go public. Successfully.
Every employee worked tirelessly to play their part in ensuring this happened. And, it was a monumental amount of work.
I know. I worked there. I was in a newly created role, handling communications for the company’s Law Department.
That group was not only transforming every element of how to deliver legal services in a public company environment, but it was also leading the resolution of two, billion-dollar class-action litigation matters on both the insurance and investment sides of the business.
We all had one goal. Go public. Do it right. We did.
After that successful IPO, we, as employees, began to wonder, what happens now? We were equipped to operate as a public company because we had planned for years to do that.
But what’s our next goal? What’s our next challenge to strive for? We were looking for a new direction.
In the Disney film, Finding Nemo, Marlin had one goal: to find his son, Nemo. He did. Once he did, their next goal was to figure out how to get back home.
However, the fish in the aquarium in the dentist’s office, where Nemo wound up, had one goal: to be free. They did.
Once they found themselves in Sydney Harbor, they looked at one another and asked, now what? They didn’t have a direction. I’m not even sure they had a leader. They were literally lost in the bay.
What’s interesting about these situations is this: there was a clear goal, clear direction, and a clear outcome expected. Once those were achieved, everyone was sitting or swimming around asking, “Now what?”
They were looking for direction again.
They achieved their goal. Celebrated. And looked to the CEO, dad, or the leader for what comes next.
Without direction, people get confused. They begin to worry. They can get complacent. They begin to wonder what they should focus on now. They may even begin to wander off in other areas that do not align with where the company, their boss, or their family and friends want to go.
It’s essential, as leaders, that we keep in mind that our employees need to not only know and understand what lies immediately ahead, but also what follows.
Once you achieve the goal, you need to communicate what’s expected next.
If not, your followers – be they people or fish – will lose direction, focus, and purpose.
The best leaders plan for that.
They know and share what happens next. They give clear direction for the immediate goal and what follows.
So don’t just lead people to the finish line—tell them where you’re going next. That clarity is what keeps teams aligned, confident, and moving forward together.
To your prosperity!
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