What Credit Unions Can Learn From Dwight Eisenhower
by Bo McDonald
While putting the final touches on our marketing and strategic plans for 2013, I ran across this quote from President Dwight Eisenhower:
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
Those words came from a 1957 Eisenhower speech to the National Defense Executive Reserve Conference in Washington, D.C. He was speaking of planning for emergencies and the unknown. “There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of ‘emergency’ is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning,” Eisenhower added.
This is great advice to take into account for 2013. Many times our marketing plans are built on what we perceive to be reality. And our reality is often based on history. Next year’s marketing plans are created in large part on what we are experiencing during the current year.
General Colin Powell once said: “Always focus on the front windshield and not the rearview mirror.”
When you’re preparing your plan for 2013, keep these two things in mind: