evidence: No leader worth their weight in annual reports would fail to prepare, right? Most of us spend a significant portion of our time in one form of preparation/planning or another. I heard a slightly different take on an old story recently—the story about King David and the temple—that made me think about a way many leaders actually prepare to fail. [...] There are too many stories to count about organizations that are led by charismatic founders who have great vision but fail to prepare and equip others to carry that vision forward. When the leader exits, sometimes suddenly, the organization falls. By failing to plan for the inevitable—their exit—they end up planning to fail. [...] I used to worry that I would die with significant parts of my vision undone. I don’t worry about that anymore. It will happen. What I spend time thinking about now is how I am going to engage the next generation of leaders so they can take the things we have started and add to them. I want to be a leader that plans on my own failure and therefore invests in the future. You will leave the work unfinished. Planning on that and preparing for it is leadership, and it is the Bison Way.