Plans need counsel
How plans succeed
Proverbs is blunt about what determines whether a plan works: where there is no counsel, plans fail; but in a multitude of counselors they are established. The difference between a plan that collapses and one that succeeds is often simply whether it was tested against wise counsel before it launched.
The same book repeats it for emphasis: plans are established by counsel. A leader's plan may be brilliant, but untested by other wise minds, it carries blind spots the leader cannot see. Counsel is not a delay to good planning; it is the thing that makes planning succeed.
“Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance you wage war.”
— The Proverbs — Proverbs 20:18 (WEB)
Run your plans past wise advisers before you commit. Counsel turns likely failure into success by exposing blind spots you can't see.
“Where there is no counsel, plans fail; but in a multitude of counselors they are established.”
Proverbs roots successful plans in counsel, not just brilliance. A leader formed here subjects his plans to wise scrutiny before launching, rather than falling in love with them. He values the counsel that reveals his blind spots. The inner work is humility to test your plans before committing.
Test significant plans against wise counsel before you commit to them. Invite scrutiny rather than rushing to launch what you've fallen in love with. Welcome the counsel that exposes blind spots as the thing that makes plans succeed. Build a planning process that includes other wise minds by default.
Leaders fall in love with their own plans and resist subjecting them to counsel, mistaking scrutiny for an obstacle. The blind spot is the blind spot itself — what you cannot see in your own plan.
Take one plan you are eager to launch. This week, run it past two or three wise counselors before committing, and genuinely weigh the blind spots they raise.
We tend to fall in love with our own plans and want to launch them, not subject them to scrutiny. But the very counsel that feels like an obstacle is what exposes the blind spots and turns a likely failure into a success.
What plan are you eager to launch that you have not yet run past wise counselors — and what blind spots might they see that you cannot?