Joint Strategic Planning System Insights: Chairmen Joint Chiefs of Staff 1990 to 2012

: In the leadership and management literature, we have learned from others who have used strategic planning to respond to the demands of the current and future environment. This Letort Paper by Dr. Richard Meinhart builds upon his earlier doctorate work, Strategic Planning Through An Organizational Lens, that examined what higher education leaders could learn from strategic planning by the Chairmen Joint Chiefs of Staff in the 1990s. Further, it also builds on a 2006 Letort Paper, Strategic Planning by the Chairmen Joint Chiefs of Staff: 1990 to 2005, that provided strategic planning and leadership insights to 2005. This current update is particularly relevant, as it focuses on the many significant changes made to the Chairman s strategic planning system in 2008, compares the current strategic environment with that of the previous 2 decades, and updates the Chairmen s use of the strategic planning system to 2012. How leaders use a strategic planning system to position their organizations to respond to internal and external challenges has multiple perspectives whether those leaders are in education, business, government, or the military. This Paper provides an historic perspective in assessing the past six Chairmen s leadership legacies using their planning system from 1990 to 2011. It also has a contemporary focus, as it describes the current Chairman s focus and the planning system s current processes and products. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it provides relevant leadership and management insights for senior leaders related to a vision s impact, decisionmaking styles, planning process and system characteristics, and overall organizational impact.