The need for strategic thinking is now more urgent in Jamaica than at any other time in history. At the time that the two largest economies in the world, India and China, are meeting to develop a common agenda, our two political parties are demonstrating the usual myopia with their infighting and seeming inability to think long term. I am not surprised that the group of Jamaicans who are uncommitted to voting is growing.

It would appear that we have not realised that if we as Jamaicans have no vision, others will plan for us both locally and globally. China and India plan to more than double their trade by 2010. We still have not been able to agree on critical national issues, like health, education, security and development.

Coaches and Sports Administrators

A group of Jamaicans who have demonstrated the extent of their strategic thinking and action, our elite coaches and sports administrators, have been recently honoured. It is to their credit that Jamaica has been able to develop world-class athletes. In fact, athletes from other countries are also coming to be trained by these coaches, and the University of Technology in particular has been developing tremendous institutional capacity in this regard.

By this time next year, the University of Technology will have a new president and the University of the West Indies at Mona will have a new principal. These institutions will have to develop strategic thinkers in their student and staff populations. The local and regional universities must contribute to this new long-term thinking in a way that they have never done before. The private sector and the public sector have to become engaged in a process which will allow us to think, plan and implement the strategies which will extricate us from the current violence and underdevelopment which is plaguing the country.

Countries working together

We need to think beyond today, beyond the next election and think about how we have to set our country to compete in a world where old enemies are now co-operating and many parts of the world are organising themselves into trade blocs and blocs of countries which pursue common goals.

Many of our people are imprisoned in a mentality of living for today with no thought of tomorrow. What about the parent who refuses to buy a school book but instead is prepared to spend money on a hairstyle or clothes? I recently heard of a parent who had contributed nothing to his child's upbringing during high school, but suddenly wanted to invest heavily in the graduation expenses - that seems amazing.

Vision, sacrifice, and all that goes with setting goals, making and implementing plans, need to become part of the new thinking in the new century. Those who have been planning strategically are numbered among those Jamaicans who are successful. Many more of us have to understand that without strategic thinking, the nation will not be able to survive our brave new world.

Hilary Robertson-Hickling is a lecturer in the Department of Management Studies at the University of the West Indies.