Strategic Planning Leadership…What’s it all about?

Why even bother with Strategic Planning? Because the world has changed, is changing, and will change. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. I had the privilege of meeting Peter Goldberg, President and CEO of the Alliance for Children and Families www.aliance1.org this week who delivered a compelling quote from Lee Iacocca. Lee Iacocca, in his book entitled Where Have All the Leaders Gone, provides a vignette about change by asking two questions:

First Question: What is the Truest Definition of Globalization?

Answer: Princess Diana’s Death

Second Question: How Come?

Answer: “An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scotch whiskey, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines. This posted by an American, using Bill Gates’ technology, and you’re probably reading this on a computer that uses Taiwanese chips and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and trucked to you by Mexican illegals. That, my friends, is Globalization!”

Recognizing that Iacocca is stretching the imagination some by suggesting hijacking and using controversial language such as “Mexican illegals,” he has nailed what the world looks like today and what it will look like in the future.

Because our world has changed, is changing, and will change, I felt it necessary to develop a new position entitled Director of Strategic Planning for BCFS. The new Director is Melissa Opheim, mopehim@buckner.org formerly director of the BCFS Residential Care Network. Melissa has over 19 years of experience as a practitioner in social service ministry as a frontline care provider and an executive director for a local site. Her role will be to finalize our strategic plans, execute our plans, and coordinate corporate resources from External Affairs such as marketing, community relations, and communications as well as resources for development in the Buckner Foundation. Melissa will also develop a framework for assessing organizational effectiveness at BCFS.

There is a saying in Spanish that says: El hombre propone y Dios dispone. Roughly translated, it means, “Man proposes…God disposes.” We recognize that our best laid plans may not be sufficient to engage the imagination of the Redeemer of history. However, we will plan, pray and work toward finding what God is doing in the world and then join his activity of drawing children and families to him so he might bless them. Melissa’s role will be to help us ask, everyday, what our plan is for that day. Pray for her as she begins this new and exciting assignment.