main income might then be from brokering stocks and bonds. Ten
years down the road your company name may still be the same but
your products may be completely different as you slowly gain more
definition and clarity of what your vision really meant.
Keep Your Focus Future-Oriented
Other factors distinguish the vision as a concept that is different
from the mission or other parts of your story. The vision must obvi-
ously be future-oriented. This means you must think outside the
box of today and describe the world of the future. Since the vision
can be anything you want it to be, it may be recorded as fragments
or it may be a complete document. The vision can include a num-
ber of diverse points or it can be very focused. Because the vision is
a description, it should be stimulating in phrases and wording. The
vision must paint a picture that attracts employees through the use
of visual imagery. This is what hooks people into passionate buy-in,
subsequent followership, and cheerful implementation of the plan.
The idea that a vision has to be a completely thought-out,
stand-alone piece of work is not necessarily true. Often just the
concept of where you want to go as a leader can fire the imagina-
tion of the company. Consider Steven Jobs’s idea that every person
should have access to a computer. Consider what kind of story was
built around that simple but elegant vision. Maybe entrepreneurs
cannot fully explain their vision on the first pass, but they can
anchor the idea. That is often enough to build successful compa-
nies. In the movie
Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner was visited by a
voice that told him, “Build it and they will come.” His character
then began a quest to find out what that voice meant. In the begin-
ning he had no clue, just a belief that the message was important.
During the journey he found another believer and then a third,
who reinforced his vision. Later Costner’s character “bet the farm,”
putting his entire future at stake to fulfill the dream and make it a
reality.
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89
Add Keywords to Fire the Imagination of Your
Employees
The stimulating factor of a vision cannot be underestimated. By
using keywords in telling a story the leader stirs the imagination,
bonds employees with common purpose, and creates hope for the
future. Howard Gardner’s simple but elegant description seems to
fit: “And still others have investigated the primary purpose of
stories—binding together of a community, the tackling of basic
philosophical or spiritual questions, the conferral of meaning on an
otherwise chaotic existence.” In his book Leading Minds, he builds
example after example of the power of stories and linking people
through a common imagery.
1
The vision must include concepts that capture people’s atten-
tion and create the passion necessary for successful planning.
Inherent to the visioning process are words that convey the follow-
ing information:
■ Size. What size company could you become in ten years?
Just how big do you want to grow the company? How
hard are you willing to work?
■ Geography. Where do you want to be located in ten years?
Are you willing to do what is necessary to expand, often
into other countries with different rules, regulations, and
business climates?
■ Markets. Are you willing to shift markets from your exist-
ing one to an emerging market, one that could be risky?
■ Products, Goods, and Services. Are you willing to give up
old-line products and sacred cows for new ventures that
may be different from your company’s history? How dif-
ferent would it be to move from a producer of goods to a
deliverer of services in ten years?
These are just examples of items you must consider when
developing your overall vision. Combine these key concepts when
painting the picture of the future. Substitute the words
planner or
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90
president in Gardner’s quote and you build a case for using imagi-
nation in the planning process.
There is one more idea I’d like to introduce. I find it cold and
distracting when writers downplay the power of emotion in an
organization’s plan or story. The component of emotion is critical
in developing the psychological tie-in of employees to the business
plan. But don’t confuse the value of employees’ emotional connec-
tion with the concrete aspect of the vision. Too often the analytical
writers try to equate vision and the visioning process as some blind-
ing flash of the future without substance. They are simply mixing
the strategic goals of a business plan with definition of the vision.
This shows a lack of understanding of planning as an integrated
model. Of course you must convert your vision into measurable,
doable actions. To believe the vision carries itself on its own
strength is fantasy. (Further explanation of the conversion of the
vision into strategic goals is offered in Chapter 5.)
THE VISION STATEMENT: HOW TO DESCRIBE
YOUR COMPANY OF THE FUTURE
The second part of the visioning process is the vision statement.
This is a statement that captures the essence or spirit of how you
describe the organization of the future. Here are some guidelines for
getting started:
■ Make your description short and to the point. Sometimes the
description is vague to the outside reader. That’s not bad.
Because the complete vision is a long paragraph or numer-
ous pages, the shorter vision statement is ideal for inclu-
sion in the business plan.
■ Don’t be concerned with the vagueness or brevity of the vision
statement. Vagueness in sentence structure gives you an
opportunity to have a quality communications event with
employees. In fact, you want them to ask about the defi-
nition of the vision statement because it gives you a
Vision and Mission
91
chance to explain details of your thinking. This was not
meant to be a license to create a deliberately vague vision
statement. There will be enough of those.
■ Don’t try to write a vision statement that is so clear it will be
understood by 100 percent of your employees on the first pass.
That is just not realistic. If you want clarity in your vision
statement, ask yourself this: Can you fully explain it to
anyone who asks?
Here are several examples of vision statements taken from busi-
ness plans of assorted organizations. While they differ in length, all
are short, powerful, and achieve positive responses from employees:
Examples of Vision Statements
■ To be the respected leader and credible information source
for all issues related to the forestry community.
■ The people of HRD Canada, New Brunswick Region, make
a difference in the lives of New Brunswickers and
Canadians. By contributing to the improvement of social
and economic conditions in our province, we are working
toward the achievement of people’s full potential and the
elimination of poverty in our communities.
■ Our vision is to dominate the world market with our
products.
■ Beat big blue!
■ To build the smallest, most user-friendly computer in the
world.
■ The Creative Kitchen Company will become well known
for solving complex kitchen renovation problems.
■ The company customers will turn to for help in resolving
their difficult business situations.
■ To be rated among the top 100 companies to work for in
North America.
Seven Steps to a Successful Business Plan
92
■ To build houses, each leaving only a wheelbarrow full of
scrap.
■ To set new standards of on-time delivery and accuracy at
the international level.
■ Our products will achieve public recognition for quality,
durability, and safety.
■ To touch every household in North America with at least
one of our product lines.
■ Our bed and breakfast chain will become the symbol for
your “home away from home.”
■ To become the most highly sought-after tree service in the
state of Virginia.
■ To make our seafood line the most recognized within
North America.
■ To provide our customers with exotic flowers from around
the world today.
■ To have my gowns featured in Vogue magazine.
Martin Luther King Jr. touched spirits and enflamed souls with
his famous “I have a dream” speech. If you don’t believe in “this
vision thing,” consider how that one speech changed a nation and
forever shaped history. Consider how a new president at Savage Arms
saved the company when he appealed to the employees with words
to this effect: “This company is a piece of American history. We are
too valuable to let it die. We are going to salvage this company.”
Getting a vision down to a single phrase or sentence is not an
easy task. The best way to extract the vision statement from the dis-
cussion or scenario-writing exercise during a planning session is to
let it evolve. Capturing a powerful vision statement is not some-
thing that can be done on cue or at a scheduled time in the plan-
ning process. You often find a team discussing the vision at length
and not being able to immediately define the vision statement.
That’s okay. Don’t force the issue. Sooner or later the team will cir-
Vision and Mission
93
cle back around to the issue of vision statement and write an
acceptable version.
A critical by-product of the vision statement is the creation of
passion, which is the outward expression of emotion. The dynam-
ic of passion surrounding the vision and the vision statement cre-
ates an energy field or field of vision. Admittedly, this is an intan-
gible but nonetheless real organizational dynamic. When visiting
an organization that has a well-communicated vision, an energy
field is very much in evidence. It manifests itself in the way people
carry out their duties, the way they deal with customers, and the
way they approach one another. A company with a field of vision
is an exciting place to work. People know their work is important,
is meaningful, and has purpose. This energy is translated into high-
er motivation levels and better performance.
A significantly higher level of performance can be found in
organizations with a vision than those without a vision. Often you
find good people, people who want to perform but have no emo-
tional outlet. There is no vision to create passion for their work. I
am saddened to find good companies with good people and good
products managed by presidents with no vision. While there are
many leaders with outstanding operational skills, these same indi-
viduals often have little or no visionary skills. Because visioning is
a core competency of a leader it goes without saying the leader is
responsible for setting the vision and facilitating the executive team
in developing the vision statement—and ultimately, for being the
cheerleader for the field of vision. The president of the company is
the number-one advocate of the vision. Without a public display of
emotion of the vision, the business plan will have a stillbirth.
The president or leader of the business unit creates the initial
vision. This is done in draft and communicated to the executive
team in the first planning activity. It is one of the first pieces of
information discussed in the preplanning meeting.
The suggestion of the president being responsible for the vision
is very different from the current popular trend of bottom-up
visioning. In my consulting experience I have never found a single
Seven Steps to a Successful Business Plan
94
instance where the bottom-up approach to building a company
vision has been successful. Occasionally management teams try to
claim this distinction, but on close examination their claims are
easily refuted.
Now let’s tackle the controversy of a leader’s single vision ver-
sus that of the masses. A single leader vision pushed down stands a
high chance of failure. A leader can have a compelling vision but
not get it institutionalized. That can happen when the manage-
ment team doesn’t buy the vision or they don’t communicate it
downward with the same degree of passion.
DON’T CONFUSE THE MESSAGE WITH THE
MESSENGER
The question of who writes the vision gets further muddled when
we examine the center or core of the message. Is it something the
leader wants to do, or is it a summation of unspoken needs by a
multitude of people? Let’s not confuse the message with the mes-
senger in this case. Often the president is simply someone who cen-
ters the vision for the company by putting it into words or symbolic
meaning. This means he or she simply articulates what is felt con-
sciously or unconsciously in the hearts and minds of the employ-
ees. The vision, therefore, is not one person’s dream. It is the expres-
sion of many dreams, hopes, and desires. But someone must take
the lead to articulate, champion, and energize those dreams
2
Someone must create a rally point in time of uncertainty or chaos.
That someone is not a committee, a group, or a mass of employees.
It is the ethical responsibility of the top management team to
assume the mantle of leadership and have the courage to put the
stake in the ground.
3
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95
Sharing the Vision: How to Encourage Employee
Involvement
What is confused in this controversial issue of top-down versus bot-
tom-up vision development is the need to have employees
involved. Having input and buy-in is more than important. It is
critical to have a shared vision for a simple fact: People support
what they develop more quickly than something handed to them.
This translates to ownership and vested interest (see Figure 4-3).
Building a case for shared ownership is not a new topic. Peter Senge
develops a strong case for shared vision when he writes, “Likewise,
when a group of people come to share a vision for an organization,
each person sees his own picture of the organization at its best.
Each shares responsibility for the whole, not just for his piece. . . .
Each represents the whole image from a different point of view.”
4
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96
Figure 4-3. A company’s vision is inclusive of the direction for all
subunits such as staff functions and strategic business units.
This common bonding of different perceptions allows the employ-
ee individual participation. This supports the belief that people
willingly follow a vision. This moves employees from pure compli-
ance behavior to a collaborative model where it is in everyone’s
mutual interest to achieve the vision.
When to Use Multiple Visions in Your Plans
How many visions can a company have in its plan? (See Figure 4-4.)
Admittedly, there is a gray area where common sense and a rule of
thumb must apply. Usually a company has a single vision, which
eliminates confusion, provides direction, and promotes stability.
The case for a single vision can be successfully argued, but there are
exceptions. Corporations or companies with large divisions may
have multiple visions as long as they nestle together as supporting
Vision and Mission
97
Figure 4-4. Corporations with diverse businesses may have multiple
visions as long as they converge at the higher level.
Seven Steps to a Successful Business Plan
98
visions. Saturn probably has a different vision statement from
General Motors. Chrysler’s automotive division may have a differ-
ent vision from the division that builds tanks for the U.S. military.
A strategic business unit or company within a corporation cannot
have a vision that carries it in a direction different from the core
vision. If your situation necessitates multiple visions make sure
they are in alignment or agreement.
In summary, the vision must start at the top and be strategi-
cally placed. It must be communicated in the form of a vision state-
ment to every last person in the system. Management teams at
every level must be held accountable for putting the vision into
operational terms at their level. Finally, the vision is too important
for you to fool around with by establishing committees and focus
groups to develop, discuss, and argue. Demonstrate leadership and
act like a fully functional manager. Take responsibility for estab-
lishing and communicating your vision statement. After all, it real-
ly is your job.
RALLYING THE EMPLOYEES: HOW TO CREATE
PURPOSE WITH YOUR MISSION STATEMENT
Your mission statement becomes the second stake in the ground for
building your story, writing your business plan, and achieving any
behavior changes necessary to reach the strategic goals. A mission
statement defines the business you are in today by stating your pur-
pose. Ask yourself this question, “If we went out of business today,
what hole would be left in the business world?”
The mission can also become a rally point for employees. To
know I make a difference changes my attitude toward work. Having
a rally point is especially important during times of high stress
common in today’s business world. Leaders throughout history
have recognized and used rally points to bring people together.
Finding a common enemy is a tactic often used to rally everyone.
Translated to business, it means beating the competition, overcom-
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