Monroe Community College (MCC) has been involved in strategic planning over the last 4 years. The following lessons have been drawn from these 4 years of experience: (1) all plans need to be seen as temporary; (2) no plan drawn up in the planner's office could be implemented if it ignored the fleeting, ambiguous nature of the college's and community's political systems, personnel changes, special interest groups, idiosyncrasies, and traditions; (3) a dynamic, changing institution resists balance and order, and plans should always be somewhat behind, if planning is working; and (4) the goal of planning is to go beyond plans and create an environment that enables the organization to spot and solve its own problems. The effects of MCC's involvement with strategic planning can be seen in some of the college's accomplishments that required innovative problem solving, the easing of rigid structures and new ways of seeing. These included the development of a venture capital fund, which provided $450,000 to be used for high risk ideas that needed a quick start with a minimum of red tape; the creation of a stand-alone, entrepreneurial unit with flexibility in delivery systems, rewards, and fiscal procedures; and the hiring of an advertising agency to assist in addressing the proper market segments and projecting a favorable college image. (RO)