Читать книгу The Illusion of Invincibility - Paul Williams - Страница 9
Оглавление“Becoming Number One in everything you do has to be your prime objective. However, being Number One doesn’t mean being the biggest.”
Gerd Stürz, Head of Life Sciences (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) at EY
1 A Compelling Vision (or the Pitfalls of Ambition?)
A company’s glossy brochure or website usually includes a “vision statement” and, if you ever want to flatter a senior executive, just describe him or her as “a visionary.” But, in the real world, is a vision statement always useful for motivation? For many decades, this certainly was the case for the Incas—up until the point when their ambition led to a dramatic downturn in fortune. Even today, the maps of their empire are still impressive, as they illustrate a period of continuous expansion achieved in just six decades and stretching around 2,500 miles down the west coast of South America. At its peak, the Inca Empire included parts of modern-day Ecuador and Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. What lay behind this rapid and almost insatiable appetite to conquer? The Inca lords found affirmation in their vision: “Bring Order to the World.” Inca Pachacutec took a name which translates to “World Reformer” or “Savior of the Earth,” and the empire’s expansion started during his reign in 1438. The Inca “global corporation” viewed bigger as better and biggest as best, rather like today’s global players in Silicon Valley—although in the end their enormous empire became practically ungovernable, so retreat was not an option. Any similarities with today’s big businesses are more than just coincidence. The Incas considered every enemy of a tribe they had conquered to be a new enemy for them, which meant more military campaigns and constant further expansion. Toward the end, their ambitious vision turned into a risk which accelerated the downfall of the empire, simply because subjugated tribes could no longer be integrated quickly enough. Many of these tribes willingly joined forces with the Spanish conquistadors and ultimately helped bring down the Inca Empire.
The extent of the Inca Empire in the fifteenth century
But clearly, for an extended period of time, the bold core vision of the Incas to bring order to the world held a magnetic appeal. Over many decades, it drove the actions of the elite, the export of farming and irrigation techniques, the use of resources, and the deployment of the crafting skills of the “assimilated”—always with one goal in mind: the methodical expansion of their sphere of influence and the construction of a smooth-running state apparatus. Nobody went hungry in the Inca Empire; there is no archaeological evidence of any malnourishment, something that cannot be claimed about Europe in the fifteenth century. That said, hardly anyone enjoyed any personal liberty in the Inca Empire. Whole villages were resettled, tradesmen packed off to major population centers, and forced labor employed. The reason why the Inca vision of an ordered world was both appealing and compelling across a wide geographical area also has to do with the fact that it was perfectly suited to the times. Starting in the eleventh century, climate change—drought inland and devastating rainfall on the coast—led to famine and continual conflict. Following a period of chaos, the Inca proposition to bring order to the world was obviously so attractive that many of the indigenous peoples were happy to accept a “friendly takeover” offer, putting up little or no resistance.
Many large businesses are launched with a modern vision, which guides and inspires strategic decision-making and everyday actions. This sort of vision can inspire, cajole, and motivate. Some well-known examples include Bill Gates’s ambitious target to get “a PC on every desk, in every house” and Google’s claim “to provide access to the world’s information in one click.” Both these visions define the beginning of a new era which both Microsoft and Google have decisively influenced and continue to do so.
Likewise, Jeff Bezos’s vision to make Amazon “the most customer-friendly business in the world” and Steve Jobs’s typically succinct definition—“a vision is how you will make the world a better place”—not to forget his equally modest claim to be making a dent in the universe. In this sort of company, the Inca proposition to bring order to the world does not seem too far out of place. Anyway, Jobs took it on himself, both personally and for his business, to be radical (“think different”) and to risk being highly focused rather than just producing “me too” products. It is no surprise, then, that visions are sometimes hailed as the ideal route to business success. As the demise of the Inca Empire shows, however, this is dangerous thinking. And, anyway, how many of these visions were in fact only formulated after the event? So, when do you need a vision, what should it look like, and what are the associated risks for an organization?
“We Don’t Need a Vision—Just Reliable Delivery!”
Sooner or later, anybody who works for a large organization will be confronted with workshops dealing with “visions,” “missions,” or “statements of intent.” However, these concepts quickly become fuzzy and blurred, and then strange things start to happen. In our opinion, a proper vision is the setting of an ambitious but nevertheless realistic goal, which serves to inspire both existing and future employees and other stakeholders. Okay, Steve Jobs’s “dent in the universe” may not have been realistic, but it was memorable, and the majority of people will have known what he meant.
Don’t Fiddle While Rome Burns!
During an international meeting of a large life sciences company, Andreas Krebs experienced firsthand how not to go about launching a vision.
Here’s some background: Some countries were experiencing severe problems with their supply of a key product because certain raw materials were not being delivered on time, and there was a high risk of a major loss of sales. Board members, along with the most important leaders from different countries, were engaged in a heated discussion on the issue when the CEO announced that they had a tight schedule and needed to move on to the next agenda item: A Vision for Technical Operations (“technical operations” being the business area responsible for production and supply). Despite raised eyebrows, the colleague from TO started with a promotional film, heavily laced with sugary slogans about wanting to be the best, then continued with a detailed PowerPoint presentation on the new TO vision. She had just managed to get to slide number three when the leader from France, unable to hold back any longer, blurted out, “Hey guys, we don’t need to be the best. A regular supply would be fine!” There was laughter all around, and some sympathy for the lady from TO charged with the thankless task of presenting a vision at the worst possible moment. And, while the whole situation may not have been quite as dramatic as Rome burning, she certainly went home that evening with a different set of priorities than she’d had when she arrived.
A business working out a vision in the midst of a crisis is a bit like a captain gathering his crew during a Force Twelve storm to extoll the attractions of a destination which they may never reach. And yet, such madness is not that uncommon. Why? “Get the vision right and the rest will take care of itself” would be the wrong conclusion to draw, even if successful businesses often have an inspiring vision of their future and their value in the world. Visions are not simply the result of a distillation process which can be hurriedly cobbled together. Knut Bleicher, economist and former head of St. Gallen Business School in Switzerland, says: “Visions cannot be created on a whiteboard—they must be allowed to develop naturally, as part of a never-ending process.”
Was Bezos really driven from the very outset to become the world leader in customer focus, as the Amazon website claims? When Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, was he really dreaming of putting a PC on everybody’s desk? Or did these visions only emerge after their first successes? How much marketing, how much image-building, how much retrospective connecting-the-dots is hidden behind these legends? We simply don’t know and can only speculate. What we do know is that, for visions to really inspire and motivate, they must provoke a positive emotional response from all involved and be plausible. They have to be “lived” every day by all levels of the company. They have to be intuitive, be consistent, and reflect the firm’s DNA; otherwise, they will just provoke cynicism and ridicule. Ideally, a vision should communicate the essence and core purpose of a business by encapsulating it in an ambitious and emotionally charged long-term objective. Employees will only buy into a vision if it both inspires them beyond their daily routine and resonates with their normal activities and day-to-day experience. Even the Incas, with their vision of “good order,” could not just rely on divine guidance, but needed to highlight their successes to win credibility for their vision with neighboring tribes.
Contrary to many assertions, you cannot simply derive objectives, strategies, and values from a vision. It is a bit like a revolving spiral in which norms, values, rules, routine practice, specific business objectives, and an overarching vision all intertwine. By using the slogan “The Best or Nothing,” Mercedes-Benz fuses an appreciation of quality with a pride in its business. Even today, not without reason, Daimler employees in the Schwabia area of southwestern Germany are proud to say that they are part of the “Daimler family.” The fact that Mercedes-Benz can continue the vision of the company’s founders and incorporate it into advertising campaigns points to a well-anchored long-term objective with which workers can easily identify. The words “The Best or Nothing” are carved into the ceiling of Herr Daimler’s former garden pavilion, which can be seen in the Gottlieb Daimler Museum in Stuttgart. Such visions, deeply rooted in the DNA of a business, serve to boost morale, give a sense of purpose, and help to see everyone through difficult times. But what if you don’t have a legendary slogan coined by a business founder to refer to when you are searching for a vision? In the next section, we share an anecdote from the world of business.
Inspiring visions are grounded in the reality of daily business practice.
On Eagles Flying through Circus Tents
If visions are to engage people emotionally, they should not be imposed from the top along the lines of “Vision X will come into force on January 1, 20XX!” Psychologically and practically, that simply won’t work. Instead, many organizations go back to the basic educational principle of actively involving those who are going to be most affected. Fundamentally, for an organization looking to build a solid basis for a vision, it is good practice to involve as many employees as possible in the process. In many companies, this leads to a veritable flood of meetings and workshops at all levels and, unfortunately, the outcome is often the dreaded lowest common denominator: It does no real harm to anyone but, as a consequence, doesn’t get anyone particularly excited either. So far, so ineffectual. But we’re afraid it gets worse…
The Wonderful World of Workshops
A large company adopted the following vision: being ranked in the top ten in its sector within fifteen years. In addition to standard workshops on long-term goals and strategy, “vision workshops” were organized at different levels (department, region, country) to allow each unit to redefine itself in the context of this Vision 2025. One of the originators of the vision, a consultant in the team running the workshops, was particularly keen on using an “ice breaker” exercise involving metaphors, and there was a special moment at the beginning of each workshop when every participant was asked to write down how how they would describe themselves. No limits on people’s imagination were set, creativity was encouraged, and comparisons were explicitly invited with the world at large, be they animal, vegetable, or mineral. Each participant had to write down on a card how they perceived themselves in their particular area of the business, and the following results were the most popular: ringmaster, court jester, mermaid, fortune teller, queen bee (surrounded by useless drones), condor, large eagle, little eagle, supertanker, speedboat, bull in a china shop, Pied Piper of Hamelin, four-star general, private (who only takes orders), interior minister, foreign minister, magician, etc.
Alarm bells should have started ringing once the drones and bulls in china shops cropped up. But, as you may have experienced yourself, when this type of exercise gathers momentum, there is often a very fine dividing line between the inspired and the absurd, and no one really wants to be the killjoy.
The next step was to cluster the terms on the cards, using colored stickers to form a ranking until a common consensus was reached which everyone could take on board. Some wonderful images emerged: “Fly, little eagle, fly!” “The noble eagle soars majestically through the circus tent,” “A supertanker travelling as fast as a speedboat,” or our favorite, “The court jester rides bareback on the mighty condor.”
Hundreds of “Vision Workshops” started like this and, to the delight of the consultants, were rolled out across the whole of the organization, both nationally and worldwide. While we can look back on all this now with a wry smile, at the time it was taken very seriously by those involved. Well, most of them.
It is just as risky to derive visions from a condensed bundle of brainstorming contributions as it is to outsource everything to an outside consulting firm. For a vision to work well, it has to reflect corporate culture and form the basis of a long-term objective, which will motivate, serve as a guide in day-to-day business, and encourage the “wow” factor. If an organization wants to be “the most customer-friendly business in the world,” every decision taken at all levels of the business must be measured against this vision. This applies equally to how staff react to customer complaints through to management making strategic decisions. A good vision enhances a project to an extent where people say, “Hey, I want to be part of that!” and motivates by giving purpose to the work of each and every individual involved. It should be clear and concise, so that all employees can understand it, which conveniently rules out long-winded marketing blurb. Purely numerical statements involving market share or financial targets are also taboo and can, indeed, be quite dangerous—but more about that in a few moments, under “Why Striving for Increased Market Share Is Not a Vision.”
First of all, how many of the following would capture your heart and convince you to give everything?
•“We aspire to be the leading client-centric global universal bank. We serve shareholders best by putting our clients first and by building a global network of balanced business underpinned by strong capital and liquidity.” (Deutsche Bank)
•“We are ‘The Chemical Company’ successfully operating in all major markets.” (BASF)
•“Our vision: world-leading brands and technology.” (Henkel)
•“GM’s vision is to be the world leader in transportation products and related services. We will earn our customers’ enthusiasm through continuous improvement driven by the integrity, teamwork, and innovation of GM people.” (General Motors)
•“To operate the best omni-channel specialty retail business in America, helping both our customers and booksellers reach their aspirations, while being a credit to the communities we serve.” (Barnes & Noble)
The longer the slogan, the more it arouses skepticism. To become “the most customer-friendly business in the world” may well inspire. But “…the leading client-centric global universal bank, serving the best interests of its shareholders”? Likewise, references to performance objectives or market share targets fail to inspire. Which business doesn’t want to “succeed in all its main markets” or deliver “top performance”? This type of wording ignores completely that powerful visions feed on strong emotions. Admittedly, this is easier for non-profit organizations to achieve than businesses. It is, however, not impossible.
•“UNICEF’s vision: A world where the rights of every child are realized.”
•“Amnesty International’s vision: A world in which every person enjoys all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.”
•“Syngenta: Using Innovation to Feed the World.”
•“Google’s vision: to provide access to the world’s information in one click.”
•“To become the world’s most loved, most flown and most profitable airline.” (Southwest Airlines)
Simon Sinek, the successful TED speaker, author, and management consultant, links this with the “Start with why” effect. Almost everyone knows what a business does, and some people know how it does it, but it is rarely clear why it does what it does. Most visions get stuck at the level of “what we do,” as shown above. That’s the reason they are so long and boring. “Why” visions inspire, are meaningful, and provide a real vision: A fair chance for every child, improving everyday life, making information available at all times to everyone, feeding the world. This “why” is also the key difference of mission statements, which are often confused with visions. Just as a reminder: A mission statement describes what a company wants to do now and how it will do it, whereas a vision statement outlines why a company exists and where it wants to be in the future. Management visionary Jim Collins uses the catchphrase “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals” (BHAG) instead of visions, meaning a picture of a very large, bold, extremely challenging (“hairy”) distant objective, an inspiring “Mount Everest” which the business wants to conquer in the next ten to thirty years. Good BHAGs—pronounced “bee-hags”—are not just marketing talk; they drive things forward forcefully and effectively. The bar is thus set pretty high, and so it’s not surprising that, despite the surfeit of visions, a really cracking, inspiring vision is rare.
Why Striving for Increased Market Share Is Not a Vision
So, you’d like to be “number one” in your industry? Well, what might seem like an exciting and motivating target is something you might want to think about a little more carefully before proceeding. Is that really a sensible objective? Watch out if your top management starts to toy with the idea of such a so-called vision. Maybe VW wouldn’t be involved in constant legal battles if former CEO Martin Winterkorn hadn’t announced his objective to topple Toyota from its title of largest automobile manufacturer in the world. A good vision guides workforce behavior positively, whereas overambition can take it in the opposite direction. Would there be an exhaust emissions scandal caused by “cheating software” if VW hadn’t wanted to expand its markets in the US in order to reach its ambitious targets? Would Deutsche Bank have been hijacked by investment bankers with their “boom or bust” mentality if, like many other banks toward the end of the nineties, it had not wanted to join the ranks of global players, cost what it may? Would the Inca Empire have been able to put up sterner resistance against the Spanish if it had started earlier to shift from rapid expansion to internal consolidation? The focus on a goal such as “being number one” gives employees the impression that anything goes, as long as the activity is helping to achieve this target. In the cases of VW, Enron, Arthur Andersen, and others, it created a values-free zone, in which behavior was no longer subject to accepted company values or even those of wider society.
We look at this issue more closely in Chapter 4, “Fair Play or Shifting Values.” The following example illustrates some of the other dangers of seeking to be Number One.
“Vision 2020” or How to Provoke Poor Investments
It is the turn of the millennium and we are at a Eurostoxx 50 company, an engineering business in the process of launching its “Vision 2020” which foresees a large-scale transformation, creating thousands of jobs and generating billions in turnover. Within the next twenty years, one of its key business units should, once again, rank in the top five in the world. In the previous ten years, the business has dropped out of the top five, falling to sixteenth place, so the vision seems to make sense and be strategically sound. It is communicated worldwide across the organization by means of a large number of meetings and workshops, and ambitious targets are set. So, why did the whole initiative eventually fail, considering how much was invested in the new business approach and how many employees embraced and adopted it enthusiastically? Here are four reasons, all of which are applicable to other businesses.
1. It did not have the full backing of the Board
The goal of getting back into the “Top Five” was only ever going to be achievable through the company acquiring at least one of its biggest competitors. However, the board was not prepared to support such ambitious M&A activity, and this in turn led to frustration among the senior management of the operational business unit, which made many attempts to start negotiations with takeover candidates. All these initiatives were blocked by the board at some stage in the evaluation process, and countless man-hours at middle management level were wasted. The skepticism with which the chairman of the board rejected the vision of the business unit was tangible and, although the vision had been formally approved at board level, the chairman openly scorned his business unit colleagues in meetings and at company events.
2. The overall objective was too ambitious
In many cases, employees and managers were driven by the extremely ambitious targets to take what was actually inappropriate action, albeit consistent with the vision, as they assumed that any activity which increased growth and market share was justified. This led, among other things, to some absurd situations in which non-core M&A activities in emerging markets were approved with enthusiasm. So, for example, a local business in the Philippines was taken over with no global or even regional integration strategy in place, and a similar amount of money was spent in Colombia on the acquisition of a stake in a newly established distribution company. Our interview partner, at the time a junior manager, was directly involved and had to deal with the critical discussions with other business divisions and corporate functions which followed. They strongly doubted the wisdom of these activities, which, with the benefit of hindsight, seems well founded. Similar things took place in other markets.
3. Discussions about the vision were too focused on soft factors
Vision workshops focused too much on values, teamwork, and how people interacted with each other. These are, of course, extremely important aspects, but in this case the more measurable, harder factors such as profitability and practical delivery were not considered enough. A lot of employees misunderstood this apparently very “soft” approach and treated it as an open invitation to do their own thing (see Point 2 above).
4. Responsibility for communicating the vision to the grassroots was delegated
Junior managers were appointed “vision coaches” and given the job of conveying the vision to individual departments and divisions. This had the negative effect of diluting responsibility so that many middle managers no longer felt accountable for embracing the vision and all the changes that came with it, which detracted from the acceptance of the whole project.
From the example above, by implication, we can derive some rules of thumb on how to deal with business visions:
1.Avoid expressing visions in concrete numbers. A numerical target risks misconduct (technical, legal, moral) because employees, under the yoke of a fixed number, no longer do what is best or right, but instead do whatever is needed to achieve the target.
2.Do not propagate messages or mottoes which senior executives have not fully bought into.
3.When you are formulating a vision, critically examine its implications as a guide to day-to-day actions and objectively discuss the consequences. What does it mean to feel bound by this vision?
4.Make sure that the vision is really accepted in the business and not just perceived as an optional nice-to-have. This includes everybody: senior managers, department heads, team leaders, and rank-and-file employees.
5.Be open to criticism and adjust the vision if errors or undesirable behaviors emerge, rather than stubbornly sticking to the original path (unlike the Incas, who were incapable of changing course once the original direction—permeated with religious significance—was set).
6.Consider what impact your vision may have on your various stakeholders.
One of our interview partners shows us why these rules are important. Gerd Stürz, Head of Life Sciences (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) at EY, told us about his negative experience with solely concentrating on growth targets. Commenting on an international consulting firm for which “top line growth” became its official objective, he said:
Suddenly, the principal focus was no longer on quality but on growth. Later, this was seen to have been the final nail in the organization’s coffin, when it lost all credibility in the face of the scandal-laced insolvency of one of its clients. This was due to the external perception that their misguided business strategy, focusing solely on growth, was an important contributory factor to the client’s downfall.
Anything Is Better than Bullshit Bingo
If this vision thing is so difficult, then why bother? Our experience suggests that visions are important and answer the question posed by employees and other stakeholders: “What’s in it for me?” It encourages them to identify more closely with the business. You can earn money anywhere, so why would you want to work for this company? In an era when, for many people, work is about more than just putting bread on the table, a compelling vision can act as an invitation to be part of an exciting project. Identifying with something that feels important is one of the keys for motivation. Then again, identity is highly emotional. It’s no coincidence that every year the Gallup Institute, in its well-known “Engagement Index,” measures the level of “emotional attachment” workers have to their employers. When people feel that they’re an important part of something bigger, they get involved in a different way than those who see themselves as small cogs in a big machine. The same message is conveyed by the tale of three stonemasons working on the Cologne Cathedral. When asked what they are doing, one replies, sullenly, “I’m chiseling away at a stone.” Another says, “I am working to feed my family,” while the third explains, with a sparkle in his eye, “I’m building a cathedral!”
As well as identity, a vision creates solidarity—a connection between employees which can, in some instances, reach across continents. Sometimes this works its way into company jargon, such as when workers at Google refer to themselves, globally, as “Googlers.” The bigger a business, the more useful it is to have something visionary which binds it together. Ideally, it promotes a sense of community, even though face-to-face interaction seldom or never occurs. Another theme in one of our interviews was the need in large organizations to have a sense of community in order to enjoy mutual success.
Dr. Christoph Straub, CEO of BARMER, one of Europe’s largest Health Funds, told us about his work as the CEO of a group of hospitals:
I was taken on to integrate a portfolio of several independent clinics and merge them into a single hospital care provider. It should have been possible. After all, others manage it. Nevertheless, we failed because we never worked on the shared identity of the business. It is very difficult to create an identity if the only principle which applies in the business is “Every man for himself” and if the organizational structure is designed, from the top down, so that people have to fight each other. The image we portrayed to the outside world of the clinics being a strong unit was not reflected internally, neither in terms of business culture nor organizational structure. When faced with financial problems, we weren’t able to find any innovative ideas on how to improve the situation. We could have solved these issues, but finding a common solution was not part of the DNA of the business.
This report, based on direct experience, is interesting for two reasons. First, because the reference to a shared identity highlights the importance of a unifying vision. And secondly, because Christoph Straub also makes it clear that words alone cannot achieve anything if the actions of management and the business culture are more inclined to divide than to unite. A vision which is more like a behavioral letter of intent serves as an official invitation to the employees. Whether it is accepted depends on whether the employees perceive the invitation as credible, given their daily business reality. “Are you serious?” “Is that consistent with our values?” (see Chapter 4) and “Is that realistic?” Both the macro level (vision) and micro level (daily interactions) have to work and complement each other.
This also means that, as long as a business is still working on a vision that is not ready to be published, much can still be gained by chipping away at the micro level to secure engagement and cooperation from the workforce. What can help are the core questions which the Gallup Institute uses to measure the emotional attachment and loyalty of employees to a business. How many of the following questions would your colleagues or subordinates say “yes” to? The more questions are answered in the affirmative, the higher the motivation and engagement of those concerned. A closer look at the twelve criteria used by Gallup reveals a combination of appreciative management style, efficient organization, opportunities for self-development, and a fair and positive working environment. That’s hardly rocket science, is it?
The Twelve Elements of Great Managing
—The Gallup Questions
1.Do you know what is expected of you at work?
2.Do you have the materials and equipment to do your work right?
3.At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
4.In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5.Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?
6.Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
7.At work, do your opinions seem to count?
8.Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?
9.Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?
10.Do you have a best friend at work?
11.In the last six months, has someone at work talked with you about your progress?
12.In the last year, have you had opportunities to learn and grow?
Before a business uses empty statements, interchangeable platitudes, or just the blindingly obvious to create a vision—in short, before it indulges in bullshit bingo—it would be better to forgo all forms of so-called visionary statements. And that applies to start-ups too. However gripping the success stories of Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin may be, not one of them was a first mover, not one of them started out as a gifted visionary with a great new idea. Writing in the magazine Brand eins, Thomas Range is blunt: “Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos didn’t invent online retail. Ebay’s founders didn’t invent the online auction. Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin didn’t invent the search engine. Mark Zuckerberg did not invent social media with Facebook. And the founders of AirBnB didn’t invent private online room rental.” What is common to these and other successful entrepreneurs is a sense for what the market is looking for and systematic and disciplined development and implementation of their business model. If you have been a customer of the one-time online bookseller Amazon for more than ten years, then you will have witnessed firsthand the company’s constantly expanding range of products and digital services.
Conclusion: It takes lots of small steps to set up a business and hold it steady on the long road to success. The best moment to accelerate this process with an appealing vision, for customers and the workforce alike, is probably not in the first tentative phase, but when the business is already well underway and the signs are multiplying that “there’s something in this.” Indeed, that something then becomes the script for an inspiring yet realistic vision. And only then does a vision become an engine of progress and a motivator of people, rather than just a naïve, potentially embarrassing, and, worst of all, distracting delusion of grandeur.
Who is actually responsible for the “vision” of a business? For the Incas, it was clear. The Inca himself, anointed by the Sun God, determined the path, and it is not that much different in modern organizations. A vision statement can only be effective if the leadership team is fully on board and everyone in the business buys into it. Furthermore, it is top management that must have the courage to adopt Collins’s “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” idea and then appoint and work with a competent team on creating a sustainable vision. Not only large businesses benefit from well-documented and ambitious long-term goals, but also small companies and family businesses, non-profit organizations, clubs, departments, teams, and every single one of us, as we work out what we want to achieve in our lives. Regular reflection on the question “Where are we actually going?” generally leads to greater success and satisfaction, provided that the vision properly embodies the concept of a motivating and meaningful way forward described in this chapter. Let’s find out.
