Do you have a clear and motivating vision statement?

Strategy and action without vision lacks lasting motivation.

THINK ON IT: Do you have a clear and motivating vision statement?

I’ve got a challenge for you: 

This week, ask at least three employees from different parts of your business what your company vision statement is. Even if you don’t have a formal vision statement, ask them what your vision statement would be if they were to write one right then. 

• Did you get three different answers? 

• Was it a struggle for them to come up with an answer at all? 

If so, maybe your vision statement isn’t as clear or as motivating as you maybe thought it was. 

A vision statement describes the desired outcome of an organization – it was the reason the organization came to be in the first place, and the job it hopes to accomplish with its work. 

For example: The American Cancer Society is the leading cancer-fighting organization with a vision of ending cancer as we know it, for everyone.

That’s a clear, motivating vision statement. A few others: 

• Alzheimer's Association: A world without Alzheimer's disease.

• Nike: Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. (*If you have a body, you are an athlete.)

• Habitat for Humanity: A world where everyone has a decent place to live.

Those vision statements describe what the company or organization hopes to achieve in the future. 

A single vision statement catches the essence of where you are going, and becomes a force for attracting customers and engaging your employees and investors. It’s a statement that every single stakeholder in your organization can understand and participate in, whether that’s customers or partners, leaders or the employees. 

So how clear is your vision statement? Does it motivate you to go to work everyday? 

Vision is the destination; Mission is the journey. We’ll talk about that next time. 

Paid subscribers, read on for a structured way to create a clear and motivating mission statement. (Become a paid subscriber.)

“Management has a lot to do with answers. Leadership is a function of questions. And the first question for a leader always is: ‘Who do we intend to be?’ Not ‘What are we going to do?’ but ‘Who do we intend to be?” — Max DePree, Business Icon

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