Plan of Action: Navigating a Life of Change, Work, and Faith

A practical guide and compass to creating a life with purpose, full of timeless wisdom from a successful agriculture CEO and leader who navigated his own transitions toward action with meaning.

Most people live with no plan until they come to a day when they question everything. Money, status, power . . . suddenly all pale in comparison to the need for meaning. At that point, getting a plan is everything.

Randy Linville was CEO of a global company when he came to his struggle between money and meaning. This is the story of what he learned on the road to true purpose and satisfaction. Don’t expect a typical CEO memoir. Plan of Action is less about Linville’s career than the accumulated wisdom that got him through it and is taking him beyond.

From a front-row seat in the business world, and with spiritual insight that transcends business, readers of Plan of Action gain practical wisdom in a refreshing perspective. Linville reveals how a Kansas farmer’s son became CEO of a global company . . . and a cynic became a believer.

Plan of Action chapters form four sections: Reboot, Resolve, Respond, and Recharge:

REBOOT

1. Dream Again: An End to Smoldering Discontentment

2. Learn to Pray: This Day and in Eternity

3. Innovate: Old Steps, New Dance

RESOLVE

4. Choose: God’s Will and Your Call

5. Be Intentional: In Writing

6. Focus: Right Work, Right Time

RESPOND

7. Go Together: The Outsized Power of Shared Purpose

8. Be Bold: Do Things That Take Your Breath Away

9. Master the Daily: Readiness is Stewardship

RECHARGE

10. Pause to Advance: Look, Listen, Rest

11. Pay Wisdom Forward: Leave More Than Silence

12. Practice Gratitude: Of Masters, Mentors, and Peers

Plan of Action is ideal for college graduates just beginning their careers and for the mid-career executive wanting purpose-filled work. Christian business leaders, pastors, ministry leaders, life coaches, and career counselors will all find Plan of Action a helpful resource for themselves—and for the colleagues, students, mentees, and friends they counsel.

Plan of Action is an indispensable compass—a guidebook of leading voices and hard-won markers on the road to dreams that come true and stay that way.

Praise for Plan of Action

“Randy’s text is what I sometimes call Kool Aid without water: valuable information richly condensed. My highest compliment is that I’ll give copies to my three sons, each of whom can ‘water’ the guidance from his own life experience and be richly blessed for it.”

Jay Bennett

Former Board Chair, The Halftime Institute

Chairman of the Board, National Christian Foundation

"We all need a Plan of Action today to help guide us to tomorrow. Few writers bring this level of insight and collected wisdom."

Clayton Smith

Pastor, Writer, Speaker

Author of At the Crossroads: Leadership Lessons for the Second Half of Life

"Randy Linville is a walking billboard of the HTI message, another legacy to Bob Buford's influential life. You can't read Plan of Action without being better for it."

Dean Niewolney

CEO, The Halftime Institute