Short-term and long-term business planning – what timeframe?

We spied a very interesting interesting graph from Rick Telberg, who may possibly be the only competitive intelligence professional I know focused on strategic trends for tax, finance and accounting professionals. His company surveyed a very interesting question – what do you consider short-term planning?

The answer, after a billion articles about futurism, The Art of the Long View, scenario planning, technology foresight, and all the rest, is still a bit shocking.

Half of people interviewed actually considered short-term to be within three months. One out of five thought of their short-term as one week.

What could they possibly think of as super long-term? A year? Eighteen months?

How can you discuss peak oil, Boomer retirement, housing trends, the rise of Asia Pacific?

Bear this in mind as you try to discuss strategic trends.