Worksheet: Write the page on why now

A programme with no reason people believe loses its energy by the second quarter. This sheet puts the reason on one page and tests it on the top team. It builds the Competent step of the check:

One page says what happens if nothing changes and why it has to be this year, and the leadership team tells the same story.

Step 1. Current course and speed

Project the business three years ahead with no programme. Use last year's trends. Leave out the fixes you hope for.

Measure	Last year	Year 1 at current course	Year 2	Year 3	What drives the trend
e.g. EBITDA	$42m	$39m	$35m	$31m	Prices flat, wages up 4% a year
Revenue
EBITDA
Cash
One measure customers feel

Step 2. Why this year

List the reasons the change cannot wait. Each needs a fact behind it.

Reason	The fact behind it	What a year's wait costs

A rule of thumb for the last column: a programme worth $P a year loses about $P/52 for every week it starts late.

Step 3. The page

Box	Your words (three lines at most)
What happens if nothing changes
Why it has to start this year
What the business will be when it is done
What we are asking of people

Step 4. Read it to the top team

Read the page aloud to the leadership team. Strike any line nobody would defend in front of staff. A week later, ask each leader to tell the story without the page.

Leader	Date asked	Same current-course story?	Same reason for this year?	What they said instead

Under 50 people: read the page to everyone who runs part of the business, owners included, and keep what survives. Step 1 can run on the last two years of accounts.

Done when: the page exists, and each leader, asked alone, gives the same current-course story and the same reason it has to be this year.

Adapted from our own transformation summary (Forty 2, 2025).