Evaluation: myths, mystiques, and obsessions.

Nurse executives, administrators, and managers are constantly being challenged by the changes in healthcare. Although it sometimes seems there is really nothing new, proactive visionary nurse administrators can rediscover, redesign, and redirect their own and others' activities to achieve organizational effectiveness. Such approaches require periodic examination of all strategies and practices--past, present, and future--for their relevance, practicality, and success. The editors of "Executive Development" reflect on topics important to organizational life.