Strategic planning, an umbrella term used to include and summarize such activities as
planning, performance measurement, program budgeting, and the like, has proven to be very
useful but limited. It is a technical fix that gets at only part of the question of organizational
effectiveness and only deals with some of the dilemmas organizations face. The efforts of public
administrators to control organizational endeavors are essential, necessary, and aligned with
current best practices. But the control mechanisms ultimately prove to be only part of the puzzle.
In the face of such realities, the notion of strategic thinking emerges to fill the gaps and
overcome the limitations that experience with strategic planning has proven to exhibit. This
paper presents an integration of leadership ideas, strategic thinking and traditional planning
activities in an effort to make important connections and important distinctions. The result is an
outline of the foundations of strategic thinking.