The Manager's Pocket Guide to Mega Thinking and Planning

Need is NOT a Verb!¹

Conventional English-language usage would have us employ the common word “need” as a verb (or in a verb sense)—to identify means, methods, activities, and actions and/or resources we desire or intend to use. Terms such as “need to,” “need for,” “needing,” and “needed” are common, conventional, and destructive to useful planning. This is important because we have already seen that it is important to distinguish means from ends. When you use “need” as a verb, you are jumping into a solution—actually demanding a solution such as “we need more money”—before defining what gaps in results and selecting a means that will close that performance gap.

As hard as it is to change our own behavior (and most of us who want others to change ...