A practical guide and compass to creating a life with purpose, full of timeless wisdom from a successful agriculture CEO and leader who navigated his own transitions toward action with meaning. Most people live with no plan until they come to a day when they question everything. Money, status, power . . . suddenly all pale in comparison to the need for meaning. At that point, getting a plan is everything.
Randy Linville was CEO of a global company when he came to his struggle between money and meaning. This is the story of what he learned on the road to true purpose and satisfaction. Don't expect a typical CEO memoir.
Plan of Action is less about Linville's career than the accumulated wisdom that got him through it and is taking him beyond.
From a front-row seat in the business world, and with spiritual insight that transcends business, readers of
Plan of Action gain practical wisdom in a refreshing perspective. Linville reveals how a Kansas farmer's son became CEO of a global company . . . and a cynic became a believer.
Plan of Action chapters form four sections: Reboot, Resolve, Respond, and Recharge:
REBOOT
1. Dream Again: An End to Smoldering Discontentment
2. Learn to Pray: This Day and in Eternity
3. Innovate: Old Steps, New Dance
RESOLVE
4. Choose: God's Will and Your Call
5. Be Intentional: In Writing
6. Focus: Right Work, Right Time
RESPOND
7. Go Together: The Outsized Power of Shared Purpose
8. Be Bold: Do Things That Take Your Breath Away
9. Master the Daily: Readiness is Stewardship
RECHARGE
10. Pause to Advance: Look, Listen, Rest
11. Pay Wisdom Forward: Leave More Than Silence
12. Practice Gratitude: Of Masters, Mentors, and Peers
Plan of Action is ideal for college graduates just beginning their careers and for the mid-career executive wanting purpose-filled work. Christian business leaders, pastors, ministry leaders, life coaches, and career counselors will all find Plan of Action a helpful resource for themselves--and for the colleagues, students, mentees, and friends they counsel.
Plan of Action is an indispensable compass--a guidebook of leading voices and hard-won markers on the road to dreams that come true and stay that way.
Praise for Plan of Action
"Randy's text is what I sometimes call Kool Aid without water: valuable information richly condensed. My highest compliment is that I'll give copies to my three sons, each of whom can 'water' the guidance from his own life experience and be richly blessed for it."
Jay Bennett
Former Board Chair, The Halftime Institute
Chairman of the Board, National Christian Foundation
We all need a Plan of Action today to help guide us to tomorrow. Few writers bring this level of insight and collected wisdom.
Clayton Smith
Pastor, Writer, Speaker
Author of At the Crossroads: Leadership Lessons for the Second Half of Life
Randy Linville is a walking billboard of the HTI message, another legacy to Bob Buford's influential life. You can't read Plan of Action without being better for it.
Dean Niewolney
CEO, The Halftime Institute
Randy Linville earned dual bachelor's degrees in agricultural economics and business finance and a master's in agricultural economics from Kansas State University. His thirty-year career includes his tenure as CEO of Scoular, where he diversified and steadied the agriculture supply chain company across the US and in international markets. As founding chair of the Commodity Markets Council, he united industry rivals to more strongly compete in the world market. Post-vocation, he co-formed and sold Agspring, one of the first private equity-backed consolidators taking agribusiness to world markets. He has served on nonprofit boards such as The FarmHouse Foundation, Global Scholars, The Halftime Institute, and The World Soy Foundation.
Randy grew up on a farm in Holcomb, Kansas; today he lives with his family in Leawood, Kansas. Plan of Action is his first book.
Nancy Lovell is a writer, media professional, best-selling ghostwriter, and editor whose clients' works have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Dallas Morning News.
As cofounder of the nationally recognized Lovell-Fairchild Communications, she wrote and placed op-eds in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, provided media training, and advised in successful launch campaigns involving figures such as Robert Duvall, Patricia Heaton, T.D. Jakes, Jim Caviezel, and Dr. Oz. Her firm's film clients included Universal Studios, Sony Pictures, and Samuel Goldwyn.
Nancy was a lead writer and communications advisor for Bob Buford's Halftime organization, and she has served numerous entertainment, technical, and corporate clients. She holds a degree in advertising and public relations from Texas Tech University. Having grown up in Japan, Texas, and Illinois, she now calls Dallas home. Plan of Action is her third book.
