Strategic planning is an oxymoron, a dangerous contradiction in terms, which frequently leads boards into confusing two distinct and separately important processes: the prime board roles of policy formulation and its associated strategic thinking; and the executive roles of planning and delivery. If they are combined, little real strategic thinking is done systematically because human frailty means that any strategic planning process degenerates quickly into an interpersonal power fight as to who gets which projects, budgets and formal organizational power.
