George Rebane

‘Tis the season of planning on how to achieve goals, and setting goals that requires planning.  The politicians can be expected to confuse the two simply because precision in thought and word is not a job requirement.  But you would expect our journalists to be able to sort out the difference and report accordingly.  Well, it turns out that they also don’t know a plan from a goal if sampling recent media reports gives any measure.  I’m sad to see that even at the vaunted WSJ, our language has no staunch friends.

From the dictionary –

Goal (n) – the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end. (technically, an end state)

Plan (n) – a scheme or method of acting, doing, proceeding, making, etc. developed in advance. (technically, an algorithm to achieve an end state)

In short, we set a goal and make a plan to achieve it – the first is a desired endpoint and the second is one of several specific ways of getting there.  These are very important distinctions especially when we listen to and try to make sense out of political hot air.

When in response to the current financial crisis a politician says he “plans to create three million new jobs”, he is really stating a goal or objective.  He makes no claim that the plan already exists to create those jobs.  Why is understanding this distinction important to the rest of us?  Well, because we may all nod approvingly about having three million new jobs in the economy, but whether we know it or not, our nods come conditionally. 

A conservative might only accept that goal if the plan for achieving it would include sustainable economic growth through tax cuts.  On the other hand, a liberal might accept the goal only if the jobs were government designated and funded through additional taxes on the rich.  The goal and its attendant plans are different.  Setting broadly acceptable goals is easy and relatively cheap; designing feasible and broadly accepted plans for their achievement is hard and expensive.  And having a plan and executing it are different still, but that’s another story.  Journalists should know the differences and make those clear in their interviews and reports.