Defining Company Vision Bryson McCleary

Defining Company VisionBryson McCleary

Outline • Company Vision Defined • Brainstorming Exercise • Core Ideology • Envisioned Future • Summary • Words of Warning • Readings List

Company Vision Defined “Vision is an image of a possible and desirable future state for an organization… It describes a future goal or level of attainment and inspires people to work toward a higher level of performance.” - ArleattaBartelson “Vision provides guidance about what core to preserve and what future to stimulate progress toward.” - James Collins and Jerry Porras

Brainstorming Exercise • Think of a well-known organization; try to dictate what you think their vision is in your own words. • Now think of your own life; what is YOUR vision statement?

Vision in Two Halves • Core Ideology • Core Values • Core Purpose • Envisioned Future • Long-term BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious, Goal) • Vivid Description

Core Ideology • What we stand for and why we exist. It is to guide and inspire, not differentiate. • Consists of two distinct parts: • Core Values • Core Purpose

Core Values • A small set of timeless guiding principles; they are important and of value to those inside the organization. • No universally “right” set of core values.

Who defines core values? MARS GROUP

Core Values • CEO of Johnson & Johnson: “The core values embodied in our credo might be a competitive advantage, but that is not why we have them. We have them because they define for us what we stand for, and we would hold them even if they became a competitive disadvantage in certain situations.”

Walt Disney Core Values • No cynicism • Nurturing and promulgation of "wholesome American values" • Creativity, dreams, and imagination • Fanatical attention to consistency and detail • Preservation and control of the Disney magic

Exercise • Define your Personal Core Values. Write them down. Remember, the values must stand the test of time. Ask yourself: “If my circumstances changed, would I still keep these values?” If not, it is probably not a core value to you.

Core Purpose • The organization's reason for being. It captures the soul of the organization. • Purpose should not be confused with specific goals or business strategies.

The “Multiple Why’s” • Start with a statement about your company: “We make __ products” or “We provide__ services” or “We do __.” • “Why is that important?” Ask the question MULTIPLE times.

Example: Good vs. Bad Ineffective purpose: "We exist to fulfill our government charter and participate in the secondary mortgage market by packaging mortgages into investment securities." Effective purpose : "To strengthen the social fabric by continually democratizing home ownership." -Fannie Mae

Exercise • Using the “Multiple Why’s” technique, find your current organization’s core purpose.

Vision in Two Halves • Core Ideology • Core Values • Core Purpose • Envisioned Future • Long-term BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious, Goal) • Vivid Description

Envisioned Future • What we aspire to become, to achieve, or to create. It will require significant change and progress to attain. • Two parts: • BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) • Vivid Description

Big Hairy Audacious Goal • Only a 50% to 70% probability of success, but the organization must believe that it can reach the goal anyway. • Four categories: target, common-enemy, role-model, and internal-transformation.

BHAG Categories • Target BHAG: “Democratize the automobile” - Ford Motor Company, early 1900s • Common-enemy BHAG: • “Crush Adidas” • - Nike, 1960s • Role-Model BHAG: • “Become the Harvard of the West” • -Stanford University, 1940s • Internal-transformation BHAG: • “Transform this company from a defense contractor into the best diversified high-technology company in the world” • -Rockwell, 1995

Beware of… The Complacency Syndrome • A lethargy that arises once an organization has achieved one BHAG and fails to replace it with another.

Vivid Description • A vibrant, engaging, and specific description of what it will be like to achieve the BHAG. (Paint a picture in people’s minds)

Vivid Description Example • "I will build a motor car for the great multitude .... It will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces... When I'm through, everybody will be able to afford one, and everyone will have one. The horse will have disappeared from our highways, the automobile will be taken for granted...[and we will] give a large number of men employment at good wages.“ - Henry Ford

Summary • Core Value = Timeless principles valuable inside the company • Purpose = Star to be chased forever • BHAG = Mountain to be climbed • Vivid Description = Paint a picture VISION = Core Value + Purpose + BHAG + Vivid Description

A few words of warning… “Building a visionary company requires 1% vision and 99% alignment.” - Jim Collins

“Good to Great” • “In each of these dramatic, remarkable, good-to-great corporate transformations, we found the same thing: There was no miracle moment. Instead, a down-to-earth, pragmatic, committed-to-excellence process - a framework - kept each company, its leaders, and its people on track for the long haul.” -Jim Collins, “Good to Great”

Works Cited & Reading List Bartelson, Arleatta. “How to Create Vision in Your Department.” Nursing Management 26.3 (1995): 61-2 Collins, James and Jerry Porras. “Building Your Company’s Vision.” Harvard Business Review 74.5 (1996): 65 Collins, Jim. Good to Great. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001. Print Marzec, Morgan. “Telling the Corporate Story: Vision into Action.” Journal of Business Strategy 28.1 (2007): 26-36

Defining Company Vision Bryson McCleary