Planner (企劃者) a planner; a plan maker
Across the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, and even into the newly emerging quaternary industry, planning has become a crucial role you cannot do without, no matter where you look. The basic scope of a planner's work centers on analysis and design; depending on circumstances, it also includes standing in as a manager who oversees progress, and pre-sales style business capability is needed too.
The general basic skills required of a planner are (1) Leading (2) Communication (3) Negotiation (4) Problem Definition & Solving.
In the film "The Bourne Ultimatum," the chief antagonist drops a line: "What I do is plan for the best outcome and carry it out, and also build plans for the worst case."
As you take on the challenge of becoming a planner, do not agonize over what kind of work you should take on in order to advance along some single straight line. The higher the position or rank you reach later on, the more valuable it becomes to know every domain a planner should be capable of handling. Like a snapshot of them all.
Once you take on the challenge of being a planner, you will do many kinds of work and learn a great deal. As you do, your strengths and distinctive qualities gradually come to the surface, and you will naturally come to see what you should aim for and the kind of work suited to you. Around the time that aim becomes visible, you must then prepare for what lies beyond. When you reach the peak of that goal, you must begin a "second phase of learning" for the next horizon and prepare for what lies ahead.
For example. In my case. ^^ When I first started in planning, I did strategic planning, project management, maintenance (operations), consulting, and so on. Over time, I shifted my aim from project execution toward strategic planning, and from strategic planning toward a technical-sales role where planning and marketing fuse together. Around my 8th year, the thought arose of wanting to live while doing the work I really wanted to do, and along with that came the ideal of mentoring the next generation. As you know, we can pretty much say that there is still no systematic department or school that helps people walk the planner's path, because planning has only recently become clearly defined. ^^;;
As I thought about this, issues like academic credentials and profile came up. (What we often call experience — on projects and the work you have performed — is closer to "references" than to "profile." A profile is something everyone needs to prepare: academic credentials, publications, social position, and so on can make up a profile.) So recently, at this age (?), I am preparing for graduate school, studying for relevant certifications, accumulating teaching experience, and preparing to publish a related book — meeting my "second phase of learning."
(Source: http://www.seri.org / Mentoring Study Group / 2007.10.22 / Peterpl_ Jung Pilho)
