Vision—Having Foresight of What Is Ideal but Is Not Yet a Reality
Entrepreneurs are visionaries who often have a remarkable ability to see what others don’t see. Their curiosity leads to imagining something that currently does not exist. They are then able to cast this vision to others (employees, business partners, board members, investors, other stakeholders, etc.) to get them on board. The responsibility of the visionary entrepreneur is to articulate to others what he/she envisions so that those connected with the vision can help make it happen. The future of the organization rests heavily on the entrepreneur’s vision, as he/she illuminates the path for others to follow.
The mindset of a visionary dwells in the realm of possibilities. There is an element of faith and conviction needed when you aspire to bring to reality something that only exists in your mind. This is why the mind is extremely powerful! Just as your thoughts can lead you to create something as great as a successful business, they can also keep you stuck and hinder your efforts from achieving your potential. Thankfully, with the cultivation of healthy thoughts, the mind can produce great things.
Having clarity of thoughts is vital for a visionary to allow ideas to flow freely. A visionary must always allocate time to be in solitude and to think deeply. This will make room for gaining a fresh perspective and a new approach to moving the business forward. Almost all of my business insights and creative ideas are generated when my mind is still and at peace. I would imagine that it would be quite difficult to have a clear vision with a cluttered mind.
A visionary’s mind has clear ideas about what type of organization his/her company should ideally be, where it should be heading in the short and long term, and what the future looks like for the company. These ideals can also include what the company is known for, what it strives to achieve, and the level of quality it wants to deliver to its customers. A company’s vision statement is a written statement that reflects what the visionary visualizes the company to be so that those who are part of the company will read it, connect to it, and execute it.
When deciding on a vision and a vision statement for your company, you should ask yourself the following questions. What do I want my company to look like in five or ten years? What are the core values and mission/goals that I want to align with my company’s vision? What goals will my company achieve in the future that I would be most proud of? These are questions that will challenge you to create your ideal company. Your vision might slightly change over the long term, but it needs to remain clear and inspirational.
I recall a point in my early stages as a business owner when I struggled with the identity of my company and, therefore, lost sight of what type of company I wanted it to be. This caused me to lose clarity of my branding message, which ultimately forced me to go back to the drawing board. The end result was a new brand with clear service offerings and a consistent brand message to attract the ideal customer that I wanted to serve. Had it not been for this time of uncertainty and frustration, I would not have realized that my company was better as a global brand instead of relegating it to operate exclusively in the United States. It was well worth the efforts to change!
Unfortunately, my company isn’t alone in having struggled with an identity crisis that clouded the vision. Remember that time in 2014 when the U.S. Postal Service launched a clothing line? Yep, that’s right. The USPS that we rely on for mail delivery and for buying postage stamps once ventured into the fashion industry—very briefly. During a period it was strapped for cash, the USPS launched a clothing line called Rain Heat & Snow.
The clothing was intended to be a high-end all-weather apparel line for men featuring t-shirts, hats, coats, jackets, and footwear. (Krupnik)
As you have probably already guessed it, it didn’t survive. To go from mail delivery to fashion is too drastic of a business model adjustment for customers to connect to and a clear sign that the USPS temporarily lost its vision.
The lesson here is that from time to time, companies are faced with making adjustments or reinventing themselves for a number of reasons. When making the necessary adjustments, it’s vital to not stray too far from the original vision; otherwise, it’s like trying to force two separate companies to operate within the same organization. It won’t work. It would be better to just launch and brand a completely different company. Virgin Mobile and Virgin Airlines are part of the same conglomerate of companies, but because the vision for each company is so different, they are separate brands as they should be. No one wants to go to a restaurant and see Chinese, Italian, Mexican, and Soul Food cuisines on the same menu! That communicates to customers that the restaurant doesn’t specialize in anything and is good at nothing.
The result of a loss of vision is a lack of sight. When an entrepreneur lacks vision, the direction of the company is in jeopardy, and the staff might feel lost or confused on what to do next because they cannot see where they are headed. Customers might also begin to notice the changes and decide to take their business elsewhere. Sometimes, external factors force the visionary entrepreneur to revise the vision. For example, if a technology you are selling suddenly becomes obsolete, you will be forced to change course or risk going under. More will be discussed on innovation in the next chapter.
A visionary is concerned about taking the company from where it is today to where it should be in the future. If an entrepreneur gets too consumed with the day-to-day operations and neglects what lies ahead, it could result in stagnation and, ultimately, the company won’t grow to its full potential. Regular attention should be given to ensure that this does not happen. This can be achieved by having annual vision-casting meetings to ensure that the company stays on track in the direction of its vision.
Visionaries can also see potential opportunities in the market. In the mind of a visionary, problems and obstacles can be turned into opportunities. If a company is operating during a time of economic downturn for example, a visionary will likely see the potential to offer a new product or service that would appeal to a certain segment of the market while providing a solution to the perceived problem. Capitalizing on a declining economy for profit might not seem like an obvious time to make money to a person who does not think like a visionary. Some of my greatest income-producing opportunities in my companies were during times of economic recession and high unemployment.
Visionaries can not only foresee potential opportunities but can also see potential problems that lie ahead and take course-corrective measures to either avert a crisis or propose a solution in advance. For example, when the market started to become more saturated with business coaches and strategists, I was able to see that it was becoming more and more challenging to position my business in my target market. Seeing the writing on the wall, I began researching other markets and found a better fit for my company. My company’s website analytics tool helped me to find the right customer fit. Rather than just waiting until the customer base dwindled, this action both averted the foreseeable crisis and created a solution way before the problem occurred.
It is not uncommon for an entrepreneur’s vision to adjust when new information becomes available. One example could be that through research and data, the company discovers that it has begun to attract an entirely different market segment than was originally targeted. This will force the entrepreneur to make a decision about the direction of the company. Changes will need to be made to retain the customers that it attracts because that is what makes money for the company. Vision is made clearer with information.
If the vision of where you want your company to go is unclear, then you need to expose yourself to new information. Perhaps you need more data, more industry knowledge, or more insights about your customers. Once I realized that my company’s website analytics revealed a large amount of followers in certain countries, I adjusted my vision to expand into those markets after conducting a considerable amount of research. It was a revelation of who actually found my brand appealing. Without this knowledge, I might have relegated my company to serving only customers in the United States.
When a leader has no vision, it is like the blind leading the blind. Decisions are made haphazardly because there is no clear path in sight. Being void of vision is taking a gamble on the future of the organization in hopes that it will somehow reach some arbitrary destination. While there is an element of trial and error with any business, operating without a vision exposes the organization and its employees to chaos and confusion.
How an entrepreneur decides to cast a vision for his/her company is as unique as each entrepreneur. Some prefer a more collaborative effort where the input of an advisory board or leadership team is valued and welcomed. Others might decide to follow a more autonomous approach to casting the company’s vision or perhaps a blend of the two. Whatever the preference, casting vision should be done and done often.
It is the vision of a company that pushes the company toward its goals. When people have a clear sense of where they are going, they find ways to get there. So, if you want a team to get behind your vision and run with it, it would be wise to write the vision and make it plain. Otherwise, you might feel like you’re pushing your team rather than leading them to something.
There are some instances when the visionary of a company is just the brains behind the operation but not the executor of the operations. I once interviewed the founder of a world famous cupcake shop who revealed to me that she had no knowledge whatsoever about baking or cupcakes. She saw an opportunity to bring something innovative to an area where there was no competition and began to assemble a winning team who could help her to turn her vision into reality. She used her professional skills in radio advertising to get the word out about her new cupcake shop and brought on some investors to fund the vision and the rest is history.
In most cases, the visionary is both the talent and the brains behind the operations, although he/she will likely not carry out the vision alone. As I have said in my previous speeches to aspiring and emerging entrepreneur audiences, if you can carry out your vision alone then your vision is too small. In any case, a visionary sees the ending from the beginning but often doesn’t know yet of each step that would be required to make it come to pass. Making a vision come to life doesn’t always happen the way you envision it in your mind, and that’s perfectly normal.
In 1999, Alibaba’s cofounder Jack Ma gathered 17 of his friends in his home to pitch his vision for the company. He was able to identify that Silicon Valley in the United States was the company’s competitor rather than the Chinese, and as such, Alibaba.com should be positioned as a global website instead of a Chinese one. He also envisioned that Alibaba’s company culture should be one that embodies a strong work ethic that would rival their Silicon Valley competitors. He believed that innovation would be a core value needed to compete with the United States. Although Ma predicted that Alibaba would be an IPO by 2002, it would be another 12 years before that dream became a reality. However, it was well worth the wait since its IPO reached $25 million, the highest in history to date. Today, Alibaba is one of the world’s largest online retailers with an estimated value of approximately $352 billion and operates in more than 200 countries and territories. (Bloomberg)
Ma openly shared his vision with key people who had the capacity to help make it come to pass. When I first launched Pursue Your Purpose LLC, I hosted a launch party where I unveiled my new company to almost 60 key people in the community. Some were a part of the media, some were community leaders, and others were champions who I believed would be committed to sharing what I was doing with their networks. However you choose to cast your vision, do so with discretion to help ensure that the intended audience can help you advance.