making sense of Vision

                "Vision is from the root word meaning "to see". A company's vision is seeing a future state, a word picture of possibility, or maybe a picture of destiny. In the movie “The Book Thief” the young Jewish fellow Max hiding from the Nazi’s asked the young girl Liesel about the weather. As she stumbled to describe the weather he says, “if your eyes could speak, what would they say?” This is a company’s vision.  Vision is not framed by goals, but rather should frame goals.

                Vision gives a picture of the future that allows employees to make decisions each day consistent with the company’s idea of the future. Behavior becomes more intentional and less random when employees act consistent with the company’s vision each day.  Goals foster plans as a means to an end. A vision is the end, providing clarity to guide employees, but open to quick turns and adaptations involved in remaining attentive to ecological dynamics.

                    Sir Walter Raleigh shares his vision of the discovering the new land with Queen Elizabeth I in the movie "Elizabeth: The Golden Years". Here we see Raleigh engaging the Queen with his passionate vision for exploring. He does not provide her with a goal, but simply describes what the end state is like in picture words that inspire the Queen to align her passion with the vision. In moving daily toward a vision employees can be opportunistic and serendipitous. Being inspired by the vision and called upon to contribute to it, employees can enjoy the journey and respond to unexpected curves in the road. A picture of possibility, rather than a goal to achieve, provides employees with direction, but does not constrain them by the illusion the future is just a continuation of status quo.

                Having employees driven by vision, versus goals with a predetermined path, is somewhat scary and seems more risky. However, an organization’s risk is being unprepared to handle or exploit random exogenous events because employees’ efforts are constrained by self-regulation associated with their goals."

exerts from "Winning in a Hostile Environment" - a handbook on being more strategic