Shaping Strategic Planning: Frogs, Dragons, Bees, and Turkey Tails

I've used this book as a resource for fifteen years, as an organization consultant, trainer, and executive coach. It is practical, easy to understand, and provides a concrete way to analyze and create a workable strategic vision. One of the most useful sections outlines the components of a good mission statement: (1) It is clear and understandable to everyone; (2) It is brief enough for people to remember; (3) It clearly specifies the products/services you provide (what customer needs you fill, who your primary customers are, how you provide these products/services); (4) It reflects the organization's distinctive competence; and (5) It reflects your values, beliefs, philosophy of operations, and organizational culture. Follow these guideliness and you'll have a mission statement that employees LIVE, not one that sits in the lower shelf of the credenza and never gets referred to again.

Because frogs are cold-blooded, they adapt to almost any temperature. For example, when put in a pot of cold H20 on a stove & slowly turning the burner up to increase the H20 heat, the frog never jumps out. Instead they slowly boil to death. Even though 'Shaping Strategic Planning' was written & published over 10 years ago, the content is still relevant today. Rapid business change was occurring in 1989, & it continues to occur in 2000. In order to avoid becoming boiled frogs, today's businesses require planning systems to shape their future as opposed to simply adapt to it. This book provides strategic planning models & insights for success. Using corporate examples, flowcharts, and entertaining graphics, the authors explore essential strategic planning elements including innovation, leadership, environmental scanning, contingency planning as well as SWOT & gap analyses. 'Shaping Strategic Planning' offers tools to effectively deal with today's business environment in which the only constant is change. Utilizing the suggested planning framework will enable organizations to choose a future direction & create a working plan to begin the journey to reach that destination.