Week 19 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Rebekah Basinger is our guest writer today.
Week 19: Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened—Social and Demographic Changes Emerging in the U.S.
THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: When embarking on a planning process, organizational leaders need look no further than the trends of the day for a glimpse into their ministries’ tomorrows. That’s the word from Peter Drucker for this week. In particular, he challenges CEOs and board members to keep an eye on demographics—the one thing we “can count on and one doesn’t have to have opinions on.” The best plans “capitalize on emerging trends and use them to create a new future for the organization.”
REBEKAH BASINGER'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 19, pages 147-154:
• “The important thing is to identify the ‘future that has already happened.’”
• “The more important work of the executive is to . . . exploit the changes that have already occurred and to use them as opportunities.”
• “Look for ‘the future that has already happened’ and turn it into an opportunity for innovation. If you do this, you can become a change leader and make competition irrelevant for you and for your organization.”
REBEKAH BASINGER'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Ministry leaders describe the organizational ground as shifting under them. But truth be told, change seldom surprises like an earthquake. Change is almost always a long time coming, with ample warning in the trends around us. Which is why wise CEOs and discerning boards regularly scan the environment for signs of what Drucker references as “the future that has already happened.”
If Drucker’s words have a familiar ring, think Isaiah 43:19. God-followers are admonished to see the new that God is doing, present tense. The future is not some far-off, mysterious maybe. It springs up, now. God is active in the trends, “making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Our part is to perceive, believe, and act on what God is up to in the world.
THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY REBEKAH BASINGER:
Rebekah Basinger, Consultant on Fundraising and Board Education, Basinger Consulting, is a champion of fundraising and board governance as ministry. She’s also committed to the ministry of grandparenting, spending almost as much time these days being Nana to her five (soon to be six) grandkids as coaching clients. Rebekah is the co-author of Growing Givers' Hearts: Treating Fundraising as Ministry, and blogs on “Generous Matters.”
TO-DO TODAY:
If you are a ministry CEO, encourage your board to regularly scan the external environment for opportunities that can be exploited and threats that must be avoided. The best boards take strong, decisive action in response to trend lines. In turn, the confident CEO welcomes the board’s participation in identifying and responding to the “future that has already happened.”
NEXT MONDAY:
On May 18, 2015, we will conclude this five-week segment on “Navigating a Society in Transition” with Week 20’s topic, “Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened: Turmoil in Education."
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