“If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you” — Steve Jobs
“Only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work.” — Gallup survey, 2013
Vision matters. It makes us feel alive.
Consider these four vision statements:
- “I will lead you to a land flowing with milk and honey.”
- “We shall fight on the beaches… we shall fight in the fields and in the streets… we shall never surrender.”
- “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
- “I have a dream…, I have a dream…, I have a dream…”
There is something so compelling about these words that people are still talking about them, decades or even thousands of years later.
Compare them now with these vision statements of four well known corporations:
- “Our vision is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
- “Our vision is put into action through programs and a focus on environmental stewardship, activities to benefit society, and a commitment to build shareholder value by making [Company Name] a truly sustainable company.”
- “Be, and be recognized as, the best consumer products and services company in the world.”
- “[Company Name] will lead the way to the future of mobility, enriching lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people.”
They are all perfectly workable, but do they inspire you in the same way?
Only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work. If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed — the vision pulls you.
Vision is the last untapped frontier of organisation performance.
Chapter 6 of Inner Leadership describes the seven building blocks of an inspiring vision and shows how to create a vision-story that inspires you.