I was on the phone recently with a client answering questions about the importance of a business vision, and how critical vision is to business growth, when he asked me a question I hadn’t received before,
Does any of this really matter with everything going on in this economy?
My response,
Yes, more than ever.
Having a vision for your business isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Your vision not only sets your direction and course, it creates the picture of what you want your world to look like when you’ve arrived at the destination. Let me explain…
A favorite example
I’ve been using Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech as an example lately, because I think it does a beautiful job of demonstrating the difference between vision and mission, and vision and objectives.
We all know that Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights advocate. His mission, for which he toiled unrelentingly and for which he won a Nobel Peace Prize, was to promote non-violent social change. Now while his objective was to garner civil rights change and legislation in America, and his mission was to promote social change in a non-violent way, his vision is eloquently laid out in his, “I Have a Dream” speech. Words like,
“one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” and, “one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice” and, “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”
give color, starkness, truth and emotion to his ultimate vision.
Road blocks and detours
We all know there were road blocks and detours that Martin Luther King, Jr. faced when living out his mission and working toward his vision. And yet he maneuvered them in order to stay on course and continue working toward that vision. It was not the passing of a particular piece of legislation that represented what he toiled for – those represented objectives along the way. It was the vision that he was driven to achieve.
The same holds true for all of us, particularly in this economy.
Without a vision, your business has no direction.
You may toil and toil just like Martin Luther King, Jr. and yet move in circles if you have no vision. The continuous road blocks of today’s economy:
- Difficulty in getting a loan
- Increasing competitive forces
- Speed of market change
- Global supply fluctuations
- Environment of increasing regulations
and so forth will cripple you if you have lost sight of where you are heading.
If you have a business vision, and if you know where you are headed, you will make adjustments for these road blocks that are aimed at keeping you on course.
If Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t have his vision – that crystal clear picture – in his mind of what he was ultimately working toward, it might have been easy to compromise, settle, or even to back down from the challenge. Remember, those were very brutal years in which he served and lived his mission.
But he didn’t waiver in his determination because simply achieving his civil rights objectives were not enough, it was the outcome – the vision – that kept him on course in the face of difficulty. It gave him hope and faith in a time of fear.
To succeed in today’s economy you need a clear business vision. Your business vision can and will serve as your hope and faith in this time of economic difficulty as long as you believe in it completely, and move toward it unrelentingly.
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Need help creating a business vision? Hire me for Visionary Leadership programs, and work with me by emailing me at Lisa@CLevelStrategies.com.
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RELATED POSTS:
Visionary Leadership: The Critical Difference Between Vision and Goals
The Business-Altering Difference Between Vision and Mission
How to Screw Your Business in One Easy Step
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Photo is Binoculars Portrait by gerlos.
16 Response Comments
Lisa, you know how to zero in on important topics. I’d add one little twist to your important message. For leaders of departments, even teams, a vision for your team can give clarity and purpose to the direction. Obviously that vision needs to support the achievement of the larger vision of the organization.
A vision can be a useful tool to help make important decisions. It takes one simple question: Does “this” support the vision? If not, why are we considering it?
Good to keep this topic front and center, Lisa.
Shawn
@shawmu That’s such a great point, Shawn! Visions aren’t just for the company as a whole; they’re important for teams and individuals as well! I’m spending today focused on my own, personal vision. Thanks for adding that critical piece to the discussion, I sincerely appreciate it!
@LisaPetrilli Lisa, what would be an interesting blog post is to learn the process you’re going through to write your personal vision. In fact, I recently did that. Wanna collaborate on a post? We could do one and post it here. No pressure.
Once again, thank you. Curious to know your thoughts on the difference between a company’s vision and a company’s purpose.
I always think it is important to keep in mind, if we don’t have a claer vision we can’t choose the right things to spend our time on in an over busy, over scheduled world to realise that vision.
@shawmu LOL, no pressure, huh? 🙂 Interesting concept…let me give it some thought! Have a great weekend and thanks for all the support, Shawn!
@greghartle You’re welcome…and great question. Purpose, as I see it, is your *mission* on a broader scale. A doctor’s purpose might be to heal, and her mission might be to eliminate the need for human donors for people who have kidney failure. Her vision is to create a world where people with kidney disease no longer need dialysis or human transplants, but have another therapeutic cure. Thoughts?
@Ali_Davies Great point Ali – it guide our priorities and ensures that we stay on track!
Hi Lisa – great post. I agree completely that a vision gives purpose and meaning to what a business does. I would add that the vision needs to be compelling at an emotional level. Like the vision of Martin Luther King, Jr., a corporate vision has to incite emotion and passion. Without a connection to the core values of the company and workforce, a vision can be hollow and not result in the push towards a greater purpose that you describe.
@cziomek Excellent and critical point, Christopher. Thanks so much for adding it! Hope you’re having a lovely holiday weekend.
@LisaPetrilli Agreed, thank you. I typically break it down like this…
Purpose = Why.
Vision = What.
Values = How.
@greghartle I was inspired by your question to actually write a whole post on it. 🙂 Coming Thursday…
Lisa,
I love MLK examples and deeply appreciate how you have connected-the-dots from his example to workplaces and the economy!
That means so much to me, Chery! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.