Building Your Company’s Vision

Preserving the core while stimulating progress has helped companies like HP, 3m,
P&G, etc. become elite institutions. These companies always had their core values
and a core purpose intact while their business strategies and practices adapted to the
changing world. This rare ability to manage continuity and change- requiring a
consciously practiced discipline- is closely linked to the ability to develop a vision.
This vision guides in understanding what core to preserve and what future to stimulate
progress toward.

Vision creates different image for different people. A well-conceived vision consists
of two major components:
1. Core Ideology: What we stand for and why we exist.
2. Envisioned Future: What we aspire to become, to achieve, to create.

Core Ideology

Core Ideology defines a consistent identity that transcends product or market life
cycles, technological breakthroughs, management fads, individual leaders and endures
as a source of guidance and inspiration.

Example: HP Way includes ‘deep respect for the individual, a dedication to affordable
quality and reliability, a commitment to community responsibility and a view that the
company exists to make technical contributions for the advancement and welfare of
humanity’.

Core Values
Core Ideology
Core Purpose

Core Values can be defined as a small set of timeless guiding principles that have
intrinsic value. Companies generally have only three to five core values.

Example: Walt Disney Company’s core values of imagination and wholesomeness.

How to identify core values?

- Honestly define what values are truly central
- Differentiate between your core values and operating practices, business
strategies, or cultural norms.

A company should not change its core values in response to market changes; rather it
should change markets, if necessary, to remain true to its core values.

Core Purpose can be defined as the reason why the organization exists. It not only
includes organization’s output or target customers but also includes the soul of the
organization. It should not be confused with specific goals or business strategies (that
should change many times in 100 years). It is like a guiding star, which is to be
pursued forever and is never reached. It only inspires change and that organizations
can never stop stimulating change and progress.

Example: Walt Disney – To make people happy.

How to identify purpose?

1. Five whys.
2. Descriptive statement as to whether you provide a product or service.
3. Ask why is that important? Five times.

Discovering Core Ideology

Ideology has to be authentic, it cannot be faked. Organization needs to ask what core
values does it truly and passionately hold. It should be confused with the values that
organization thinks it ought to have. It needs to be meaningful and inspirational only
to the people inside the organization and need not be exciting to the outsiders.

A clear and well – articulated ideology attracts to the company people whose personal
values are compatible with the company’s core values and repels those whose
personal values are incompatible.

The focus therefore should be on getting the content right and capturing the essence
of the core values and purpose. Finally, not to get confused between core ideology
and core competence. Core competence defines organization’s capabilities whereas
core ideology captures what organization stands for and why it exists.

Envisioned Future

It consists of two parts: a 1p to 30 year audacious goal plus vivid description of what
it will be like to achieve the goal.

BHAG: Shorthand for Big, Hairy, And Audacious Goals. Another word for bold
missions used by visionary companies. A true BHAG is clear and compelling. Serves
as a unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear
finish line. It engages people. It is tangible, energizing and highly focused.

A vision level BHAG applies to the entire organization and requires 10 to 30 years of
effort to complete. It will have perhaps only a 50% to 70% probability of success.
Vivid Description: Vibrant, engaging and specific description of what it will be like to
achieve the BHAG. Passion , emotion and conviction are essential parts of vivid
description.

Few Key Points

1. Don’t confuse core ideology and envisioned future. Don’t confuse core
purpose and BHAGs.
2. Identifying core ideology is a discovery process, but setting the envisioned
future is a creative process.
3. It makes no sense to analyze whether an envisioned future is the right one.