Competency Focus: Strategic Planning

How Strategic Planning Influences my Leadership Success
Strategic Planning has greatly influenced my leadership success, as I have learned how to think long-term and with specific goals and aspirations in mind. Since my freshman year, I have learned to use strategic planning principles to drive decisions about what courses to take, which organizations to join, and what kind of jobs I would hold in order to work toward my goals post-grad. I have strategically aligned myself within the sales industry through the roles that I’ve taken during college, aligned myself with specific organizations to build precursor to my reputation before moving to the South (namely sorority and alumni involvement to gain acquaintances in my new state), and taking specific classes to gain an understanding of specific processes and skills. I have taken courses relating to strategic communication, conflict negotiation, contract writing, and professional sales in order to orient myself as a strong candidate for sales roles after graduation. 

Why is it Important for Professors to teach Strategic Planning Skills?
It is important for professors to teach the fundamentals of strategic planning to students to empower students to think long-term about their success after graduation. By teaching students specific strategies like unifying direction, motivating teams/themselves, and being competitively positioned within their field, students can learn to orient themselves in a way that is effective in helping them reach their goals. “Defining an overarching vision to align individual efforts will propel you towards achievement” (AAMC, 2025). Being able to identify and articulate goals and aspirations is the fundamental of effective strategic planning, and teaching these skills will help set students up for greater success.

Personal Growth & Development at Arizona State University
Throughout my time at ASU, I have been able to learn and hone skills within strategic planning in order to better orient myself toward my goals and aspirations. I have learned how to identify my goals, and articulate paths to achieve those goals. Outside of corporate and family aspirations, I have also begun to develop a strategic plan for my passion project in hopes of actually publishing in the near future. This has allowed me to think critically and develop goals that are agile in especially volatile periods of time.  

Personal Artifact: Auburn Collective Vol. 1
This is the development of the first edition of the publication that I hope to push into the media, focusing essays on pop culture, femininity in practice, and other forms of media within a printable edition for purchase. This project was the first study/proof of concept created in order to test the validity of the ideas that I had, and to see if I could create something of this caliber on a regular basis. This took a lot of strategic planning- studies on pop culture with several sources, forecasting trends, gathering photos, designing and outlining the magazine, and proofreading/presenting the project to potential future stakeholders. This has proved to be successful in the early stages, and will be used in the future to prove my business concept into print media. 

Reference 

Strategic planning resources. (2025). AAMC. https://www.aamc.org/learn-network/affinity-groups/gip/strategic-planning