Here’s one of the most popular and least effective management methods: a strategy template that starts with a company’s Vision and Mission and cascades down to Strategies and Objectives. This strategy template has many problems, such as not mentioning customers’ priorities or your competitive strengths (these should be foundational!). It often produces vague, generic results that avoid making difficult choices.
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The True Value Of Vision
But let’s focus here just on the Vision aspect. Vision can actually be quite useful, if framed properly. Vision provides guidance for company priorities through context and specificity. It should not be like the one from the restaurant chain Chipotle: “We believe that food has the power to change the world.” Nice, but meaningless. (Past leaders at IBM and Ford offer a closer look at what not to do when executing the vision.)
A vision should be of how the world will look in the somewhat long-term future and what your company’s place could be in it. See, for example, this short video that United Rentals, a $14 billion equipment-rental company, produced. Vision inspires, but it is also quite tangible and relatable to what the company does.
Creating A Vision With Impact
You may not have the resources United Rentals had to create such a slick video (although, with AI-generated video, the cost and skill barriers are tumbling fast). But you can lay out in words (perhaps complemented by AI-generated images) how the world will look in 10 years in ways that are relevant to your industry, and what role your firm can play in that time period.
Guiding Strategic Choices With Vision
A useful vision can sketch the future competitive context and why you will have a commanding position. Certainly it can have public spirit (a future vision based on customer exploitation is neither inspiring nor sustainable!). However, it’s perfectly fine to show why your stakeholders should be delighted with these outcomes.
The North Star Of Strategy
Such a vision then guides nearer-term strategic choices, including the creation of new capabilities, relationships, or business models. In the fray of constantly changing industry and competitive dynamics, it provides a North Star to guide where your efforts head. It also ensures that you invest in long-term projects alongside the shorter-term imperatives which typically dominate day-to-day thinking.
Your vision doesn’t need to change the world. But it will likely alter your industry and company. Clear and specific visions show the direction of the road even while you give most of your attention to the traffic that surrounds you.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by Stephen Wunker, Managing Director of New Markets Advisors and Author of The Innovative Leader.
At The Blake Project, we help clients worldwide, in all stages of development, define or redefine and articulate what makes them competitive at critical moments of change, including defining a vision that propels their businesses and brands forward. Please email us to learn how we can help you compete differently.
Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Growth and Brand Education
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