Two Kinds of Vision

I divide the vision of executive leadership into two parts: “managing the machine” and “inspiring the movement.”  Vision creates the direction for the company at a strategic level.  You and your business will go where your attention leads it so the purpose of “The Vision™” however you have defined it, is to set direction.     

As an executive you are responsible for the vision of the company and how that translates into strategy.  Often this vision is in the form of a mission statement and a series of directives around values. This drives what I characterize as “inspiring the movement.”  It answers most of the questions around “why” and “where you want to go.”  

Since vision sets direction, I believe there is a second vision, less commonly understood, that is essential for executive leadership.   It is about the “machine,” or how you want your business to look.  This vision answers the question around “what” (“how” is in the details).  Here we are focused on what good looks like and what direction we want to go from an execution perspective.  This can take a lot of forms but here is the vision I used most recently – what I wanted to say when I described the execution occurring in my business:

• We have a scalable model that makes money. 

• Our processes drive our margins.

• We can forecast our results with accuracy and invest in our business with confidence.

• We know our prospects and customers and know how they make decisions.

• We know our suppliers and they recognize our value.

• We have a reason for doing everything we do – the good of the customer and the worker. 

• Our culture is so strong it is a branded element.

These are mostly self-explanatory and are easy enough to communicate that folks throughout the organization can share in them with you.  When I know what good looks like I can imitate it long enough to get there and eventually to improve on it.  The reason you have an operating or execution vision is define where you want to go across another dimension in your business and start heading there.