and the beauty of creation. We enter the strategic planning process with an ultimate trust and belief in the potential for positive change and good outcomes. We have an energy and passion to unleash grace, creativity and ingenuity in one another to build up the world and provide for the needs of all men and women. Franciscans don't do well with those who doom every project to failure. We are optimistic. men and women and, indeed, of all creation. Therefore, we highlight collaboration and cooper- ation. We are inclusive. We believe in big, wide- open tents where every voice is heard and listened to. Our strategic planning can't be top- down and a ruse for individual power-grabbing and self-interested politics. We believe in the common good and in everyone coming to the table of discernment and decision-making. -- "all were created through Him; all were created for Him; He is before all else that is." Theologically speaking, Franciscans are pro- foundly Christo-centric and we meditate on Jesus as the Logos, or Word of God. We believe that Jesus is the pattern and design for the truth, beauty and goodness we see in the world. We love a beautiful design. This conviction translates into a positive, can-do spirit. We can make things better. We can make things well. We are con- vinced that plans don't have to end up on the ash heap of history. Belief in Jesus as the Art of God gives us a temperament for attempting great things. perfect. At the end of his life, St. Francis said to the brothers -- "Let's start over, for up until now, we have done little." St. Francis loved change. He was the master of surprise and innovation. Fran- ciscans, therefore, feel at home with a "culture of planning" that inculcates an attitude of creativity, ingenuity and progress throughout an institution. charism of the Franciscan tradition of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard wrote ing to view the challenges that we face in business and education today as just another rough patch to get through before we come back to "normal" again. stakes and uncertainty will con- tinue as the norm," as we face global competition, political insta- bility, demographic changes, en- ergy constraints and a whole host of serious and unfamiliar chal- lenges. Leaders face a permanent crisis of technical and transforma- tional challenges. I have helped hundreds of profit and not-for-profit institutions come to grips with their experience of ur- gency, high stakes and uncertainty. (a) a profound commitment to one's founding mission; (b) a realis- tic vision of where the group wants to get to and (c) a passion to risk for the greater common good. wants to plan. monasteries. and commerce of ordinary life. They worked hard building the colleges, universities, hospitals, shelters, buildings and bridges that cities needed. They were not afraid to address them- selves to what the marketplace required. ductive. Their planning was holistic, always integrating body, mind and spirit with strong relational bonds that were familial, civic and even global. which a community comes to- gether to recommit to its founding mission and puts its passion to bear on the discern- ment and operationalization of an enlivened vision, because it believes in truth, beauty and goodness and it trusts in the power of a common good. sity Planning Commission, which is engaging the St. Bonaventure community in uni- versity-wide strategic planning. Fr. David, who joined the univer- sity in August 2014, is executive director of the Franciscan Insti- tute & Franciscan Institute Publi- cations and dean of the School of Franciscan Studies.) Dr. Michael Hoffman, co-chair Dr. René Hauser Dr. Pauline Hoffmann Dr. Heather McDivitt Bernie Valento |