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Book Reviews

The topic of board fundraising is blessed with an abundance of resources. Here are three that rank among the best:

Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming, M. Watkins and M. Bazerman, HBR reprint R0303E, March 2003, Harvard Business Review.

Watkins and Bazerman posit that all the information you need to predict what would happen is already there for you to use. Three failures of recognition, prioritization, and mobilization are the cause. What's behind these failures are psychological barriers, organizational barriers, and political barriers. Scenario planning and risk analysis are the key disciplines to head off those Predictable Surprises.

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The Art of the Long View Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World, Peter Schwartz, 1991, ISBN 0-385-26732-0, Currency Doubleday Publishers

By taking the scenario approach, managers can make strategic decisions that will work in any future – probable or improbable. Debate no longer focuses on picking a most probable future, but instead focuses on being prepared for whatever happens. One of the original creators of the scenario approach, Schwartz has written a book that is enlightening, informative, and frustrating, all at the same time. While not easy reading, Schwartz gradually teases out the fundamental steps of undertaking the scenario approach in strategic decision making and planning. Yet there is no “recipe” for scenario discussion – that's the frustrating part. But the book overcomes that shortfall by explaining and illustrating the key concepts in a variety of ways until you “get it” – that's the enlightening and informative part. If you have responsibility for leading your organization into the future then this is a must read.

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Organizational Planning, Sue Waechter, Cornerstone Consulting Associates, LLC, 2005

Organizational Planning is a comprehensive system of thinking and planning strategically, and includes scenario practice. In Organizational Planning, organizational stakeholders are allowed to visualize, experience, and play out several futures impacting the organization. Organizations who conduct a scenario practice within Organizational Planning are prepared for plausible future, not just he ones that are most hoped for or most expected. Cornerstone's Organizational Planning includes both content and facilitation expertise for scenario practice.

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