When Plans Fall Apart, Growth Begins
Your plans will fail you, but the act of planning will never. The value is the adaptable mind you build while planning.
✏️ Research in Practice: What the Experts Are Doing
Dwight D. Eisenhower famously said, “Plans are useless. Planning is indispensable.” At first read, it seems contradictory. Yet leadership research shows why this principle is essential for anyone navigating uncertainty.
Planning is a rehearsal for adaptation. Decision scientists like Karl Weick describe this as sensemaking. We prepare not to guarantee the future but to enter it with clarity and agility. Planning strengthens reflection, prioritization, and perspective. It builds the ability to pivot with purpose when the landscape shifts.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry captured the same spirit when he wrote, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” The preparation we invest in our goals gives them structure, but it never guarantees the outcomes. Life will always add variables that our plans did not account for.
C. S. Lewis offered another lens. He wrote, “Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn. My God, do you learn.” The moments that call us to abandon or change our plans are often the ones that teach us the most about ourselves.
In leadership, this blend of planning, adaptation, and humility is the difference between those who survive change and those who do not.
👨🏽🏫 Personal Connection Story
This month, I traveled to Mexico, ready for a week-long expedition that I had planned for four months. I envisioned long days on the water, quiet coastal camps, meaningful connection with a crew of strangers, and a chance to study leadership in motion.
Instead, the moment I arrived I began to feel sick. Not run-down or tired, but genuinely unwell. The kind of physical warning that tells you the plan in your head is about to collide with the reality in front of you.
At first, I ignored it. I had invested time, money, and anticipation into this experience. I had told people about it. I imagined myself pushing through discomfort because it felt easier than being the person who backed out.
But I had a clear, unmistakable instinct that if I forced myself to go, the week would not be restorative or developmental. It would be survival. The priority I had held for four months was no longer aligned with the conditions of the moment.
Making the decision to step back was uncomfortable. I felt out of place. I felt like the odd man out. Yet the moment I chose to honor my own shifting priorities, something clicked. By taking care of myself, I also protected the group from the weight of someone who would not have been fully present.
The plan was useless. The planning was not. It prepared me to recognize the difference between stubbornness and wisdom.
Plans are rigid. Priorities evolve. And experience, as C. S. Lewis reminds us, is a powerful instructor. What you learn can instantly change what you need.
📚 Suggested Reading
Kolb, D. A. (2015). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Pearson Education.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. Sage.
Saint-Exupéry, A. de. (1943). The Little Prince.
Lewis, C. S. (1960). The Problem of Pain.
⚓ Anchor It in Action
The next time your plans fall apart, pause and ask yourself:
What new information does the present moment give me?
What priority is trying to emerge that I did not see before?
What can I release so I can adapt with clarity rather than fear?
Remember: planning shapes your ability to pivot with purpose. The goal is not to hold the plan tightly. The goal is to walk into the unknown with enough self-awareness to adjust when life teaches you something new.
