LEADERS ARE PLANNERS“Th e best way to predict your future is to create it.^2
(Stephen Covey)Knowing the importance of planning, good leaders do not just live
spontaneously...erratically...randomly...or capriciously. Because they
have an all-consuming life purpose, they have to be lifelong planners. Good
leading and good planning go hand-in-hand. In order to fulfill their vision
and reach their goals, leaders know the absolute necessity of good
planning. They have long-term plans that necessitate short-term goals.
Principle:
“Good leading and good planning always go
hand-in-hand.”At the beginning of this study we looked at the importance of a leader’s
defining life vision. That spiritual vision is summed up in the words of
one of my favorite Bible verses:
“The noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he
stands” (Isa. 32:8).That verse should provoke a divine pause in each of our lives. It should
cause each of us as leaders to ask ourselves: “Am I giving my life for noble
plans or for nominal plans?” The thing that lifts our plans to the realm of
nobility is that they are glorifying to God and edifying to man. Too many
people live by plans that have little inherent nobility. They are selfish
plans...petty plans...carnal plans...worldly plans...ignoble plans. It is
only when God’s plans become our plans that there is nobility involved.
Only then do plans cease being nominal and become noble.
Principle:
“When integrity fails, the leader falls.”It is not enough just to have noble plans – we must also implement them
with noble deeds. If the plans are noble, the deeds that are done in their
name must also be noble. Noble plans can never be fulfilled by ignoble