Health & Medical
Looking into the crystal ball
How to grow your company for the future
By Meredyth McKenzie
Smart Business Los Angeles | March 2009
Page 1 of 2
Molly Forrest
president, The Los Angeles Jewish Home
Molly Forrest is always
on the lookout for
new opportunities.
And since coming to The
Los Angeles Jewish Home 12
years ago, she has sought
out new chances to grow for
the senior living community.
“I don’t believe anyone ever
starts out and says, ‘My
intention is to open a little
shop on a corner, and for the
rest of my life, that’s what I
will do,’” says Forrest of the
1,070-employee company.
“So as part of the strategic
plan, you envision the future
of what could be done.”
By always looking to the
future, Forrest has helped
grow the company to 2007
revenue of $72 million.
Smart Business spoke with
Forrest, president and CEO of
the organization, about how to
grow your company with an
eye toward the future.
Q. How do you develop a
growth plan?
A growth plan springs from
the whole process of doing a
strategic plan. Like all things
that have an inherent energy,
you either are growing and
increasing your own energy
or being depleted and your
energy is being exhausted by
others or other entities. When
you look at any organization,
you have to plan to either
expand into new opportunities or to enhance the growth
you currently have, either by
improving your market share
or improving the complexity
of what you do, but finding a
way to grow for the future.
You’re mainly looking at how
do you create a vision for the
future that is a changing landscape but offers opportunities
for expansion and growth.
Q. What are the keys to
developing that vision?
The most difficult thing I
have seen in every organization is a reluctance to look
with a skeptical and hard eye
at where the organization currently sits and stands.
You need to be looking at the
weaknesses of an organization
... to meet what is the opportunity or the threat. Most organizations will hire an outside
planner, they’ll work with
their boards and don’t
involve the staff. But if you
involve the staff and leadership, you end up with
the board learning and the
staff learning from the
exercise, and you end up
with a better plan.
So look at the weaknesses and say, ‘What I did last
year or 20 years ago ...
that doesn’t meet the
needs for today’s economy and desires.’
Q. How do you take a hard
look at your organization?
Ask questions and listen
without prejudice — what is
our mission now? What do
we do well? Where could we
do better? What do we not do
that we should consider?
What should we know of our
reputation?
Gather information from
public, private and personal
sources, including vendors,
business partners and leaders
of similar organizations — current and prior consumers
through formal and informal
venues, face-to-face meetings,
phone conversations with
leaders, and reviewing prior
records. Gather available
information for trends, such
as turnover, service satisfaction surveys, marketing and
developing trends from the
industry and competitors.
