In a total career pivot to higher education, in an executive role at one of the world’s finest public universities, Gerry Starsia was surprised to find that in general, there was little interest in planning or systems or measuring operating performance. This reality drove him to focus his academic research and writing in the realms of planning and strategy, measurement, and performance. Gerry’s hope is to combine the lessons learned in the corporate and academic worlds with first person case studies, so others can learn from his successes, missteps, wins and losses