{"id":1413,"date":"2008-02-11T09:15:27","date_gmt":"2008-02-11T15:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/vision-statement-vs-leadership\/"},"modified":"2008-02-11T09:11:50","modified_gmt":"2008-02-11T15:11:50","slug":"vision-statement-vs-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/vision-statement-vs-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Vision Statement vs. Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Color me skeptical, but I am just not a fan of vision statements, mission statements, company statements and whatever else is the latest iteration.\u00a0 I prefer P&amp;L statements.\u00a0 I could be wrong on this so I&#8217;ll provide an article from BusinessWeek.com titled <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/managing\/content\/feb2008\/ca2008027_676532.htm?campaign_id=rss_null\">Vision Decisions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The opening graph:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Feeling the pressure to prove they have what former President George H. W. Bush famously termed &#8220;the vision thing,&#8221; they drag their staffs through formal visioning sessions. The resulting empty exercises yield &#8220;vision statements&#8221; to which employees periodically genuflect, but they have no operative meaning. The net result is anti-inspirational.<\/p>\n<p>The purpose of vision, after all, is to inspire: vision provides motivation through inspiration. As discussed in a previous post, inspiration is one key element of the &#8220;why should people get excited about this&#8221; dimension of establishing strategic direction (the other is incentives). An effective statement of vision provides an inspiring portrait of what it will look like and feel like to achieve the organization&#8217;s mission and goals. It crystallizes an emotional connection between employees and the business. Critically, a formal statement of vision is not an end in itself. It is both the product of and a symbol of a process of generating shared understanding and shared commitment among employees.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The process part makes sense, but the entire vision statement idea just strikes me as an organizational development symbol that has little impact on the company&#8217;s machinations.\u00a0 Strong leadership provides inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>I went through the ISO 9000 whatever registration over a decade ago and came away with a fairly jaded perspective of the entire thing.\u00a0 That experience, where we had to memorize the company vision statement and mission statement in case we were asked by an auditor.\u00a0 The statements sounded good, but operationally they had no impact on the business.\u00a0 In my estimation, they were little more than political spin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Color me skeptical, but I am just not a fan of vision statements, mission statements, company statements and whatever else is the latest iteration.\u00a0 I prefer P&amp;L statements.\u00a0 I could be wrong on this so I&#8217;ll provide an article from BusinessWeek.com titled Vision Decisions. The opening graph: Feeling the pressure to prove they have what former President George H. W. Bush famously termed &#8220;the vision thing,&#8221; they drag their staffs through formal visioning sessions. The resulting empty exercises yield &#8220;vision statements&#8221; to which employees periodically genuflect, but they have no operative meaning. The net result is anti-inspirational. The purpose of vision, after all, is to inspire: vision provides motivation through&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/vision-statement-vs-leadership\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31,11],"tags":[31,189,303,302],"class_list":["post-1413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-team-management","tag-leadership","tag-mission-statement","tag-vision-decision","tag-vision-statement"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-mN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1417,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/leading-out-of-our-status-quo\/","url_meta":{"origin":1413,"position":0},"title":"Leading Out Of Our Status Quo","author":"Eric Ramberg","date":"February 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Being in the final stages of strategic planning right now with my company (following the establishment of a Vision statement last year) I just can't leave Derrick's post alone. He is absolutely correct with his assumption that many \"visioning\" exercises are empty of real meaning or impact. As any good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Leadership&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Leadership","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/05\/how-to-win-the-talent-wars\/","url_meta":{"origin":1413,"position":1},"title":"How to Win the Talent Wars","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"From Sales & Marketing Management's e-newsletter (sorry, no link available): How to win the talent war: * Assess current strengths and gaps. Review the talent on hand and what your future needs will be. * Create a vision and strategy. Identify the tools, processes, and technology you will need to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Assessing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Assessing","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":622,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/sales-traits-series-self-direction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1413,"position":2},"title":"Sales Traits Series &#8211; Self-Direction","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This week we look at a trait that is growing in importance with the number of home-based sales position. We are working with multiple customers to find strong salespeople who are located in the territory and based out of their house. Truly this is a strong trend for the future.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Aptitudes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Aptitudes","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/aptitudes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1441,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/10-management-lessons\/","url_meta":{"origin":1413,"position":3},"title":"10 Management Lessons","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"There might be nothing more important to a business' success than strong management.\u00a0 When management struggles, the entire company pays a price no matter how large. ManageSmarter.com offers an article with 10 excellent tips for leadership.\u00a0 Here's a taste: \u2022 Have a vision and communicate it. Make sure you clearly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Leadership&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Leadership","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/05\/experience-fact-or-fiction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1413,"position":4},"title":"Experience &#8211; Fact or Fiction?","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"May 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"In this article from the Minneapolis StarTribune.com, the author discusses the growing demand for salespeople in the medical industry. One quote in particular jumps out: Medical salespeople often tell me it is rewarding to sell things that help people. I bring this topic up because it is of interest in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1507,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/04\/recessions-are-tactical-problems-recruiting-is-strategic\/","url_meta":{"origin":1413,"position":5},"title":"Recessions Are Tactical Problems, Recruiting Is Strategic","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Steven Rothberg over at CollegeRecruiter.com provides a money quote in his post Why Today's College Students Need Not Fear Exploding Offers.\u00a0 Obviously, Steven's market is geared towards college students, but this paragraph is applicable to all businesses when it comes to hiring (emphasis mine): The recession of 2001-03 was worse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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