What Strategic Planning Can Learn from Playwriting

When people discover that I am both a playwright and a strategic planning consultant, they might wonder if these pursuits have anything in common. One involves artists, imagination, and storytelling. The other involves organizations, budgets, and long-range goals.

In reality, they are remarkably similar.

Every successful play begins with a simple question: What does the protagonist want?

Without a clear objective, there is no story. Characters wander aimlessly. Scenes lose focus. Audiences become restless.

Organizations face the same challenge. Strategic planning often begins with discussions about programs, staffing, finances, or operations. While all of these topics matter, they are not the heart of the story. The heart of the story is purpose.

What does the organization want to accomplish? Who or what stands in the way? What strengths can help overcome those obstacles?

Those questions drive both compelling drama and effective strategy.

Playwrights also understand the importance of conflict. In theatre, conflict is not something to avoid; it is the engine that moves the story forward. Strategic planning works best when organizations do the same. Healthy disagreement can reveal assumptions, surface important concerns, and expose opportunities that might otherwise remain hidden.

Another lesson from playwriting is that audiences remember stories far more readily than facts. Most people cannot recite a strategic plan from memory. They can, however, remember a powerful story about why an organization exists, whom it serves, and the future it hopes to create.

A recent example comes from my work with the Southern Indiana Association of REALTORS®. Led by CEO Kim Seibert and Board Chair Ryan Craig, the organization recently completed a draft strategic plan designed to guide its future priorities and investments. As we gather additional stakeholder input and prepare to integrate that feedback during an upcoming July 24 planning session, I am reminded once again that strategic planning is not simply a technical exercise. It is a process of helping people create a shared understanding of where they want to go and why the journey matters.

Like a successful play, the strongest plans emerge when diverse voices contribute to a compelling and coherent story about the future.

A script sitting on a shelf is not a play. A strategic plan sitting on a shelf is not a strategy. Both come to life when people step into their roles and begin moving the story forward.

The best strategic plans do more than identify goals. They help people become co-authors of the future they hope to create.