CEO’s Are Not ALWAYS Communicating Vision (Mistake #5)

Communicate vision, all the time, relentlessly, up - down - and sidewise.

The #1 job of a CEO, and any leader for that matter, is to continuously communicate vision - the vision (mission, goal, purpose) of the company or organization. This seems obvious, but I think there are three reasons why too many CEO ’s make this mistake.

1. They get insulated mentally.

In the last post we talked about the bureaucratic mindset stultifying creativity. That same atmosphere, along with layers of people between the executive and the customer, can quench the visionary mind of the executive if s/he doesn’t actively work against it.

The best CEO’s live and breathe their vision. They ARE the vision.

Jim Collins wrote two books that emphasized this – in his “Good To Great” he wrote of the Level 5 Leader who might not have been “charismatic” in the traditional sense (though it helps – see Mistake #3), but every one of the leaders of those ‘great’ companies was passionate about the vision of their company, (vision being the essence – more on this later). And remember that in his first book “Built To Last” Collins had the subtitle “Successful Habits of Visionary Companies”. Companies without vision just do not last. Just as people without vision do not accomplish much.

Too many CEO’s think the formal one page “Vision Statement” that every employee may have to memorize takes care of the vision thing. It does not.

What to do:

• Shorten the vision to a sentence. Two at the most. The essence of a company or organization.

Starbucks: “Starbucks will be the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow."

Henry Ford: “We will build a motor car for the great multitude.”

Pixar Animation: “To tell stories. To make real films. To make the world's first completely animated feature film.”

• Don’t worry about having a Vision and Mission and Aim and Purpose and Goal, etc. Just communicate the essence.

Bill Hybels, is founder of Willow Creek Church, one of the largest churches in America as well as the Willow Creek Association that teaches and leads thousands of other churches. He also wrote the great book “Courageous Leadership”, where he disagrees with those leadership gurus who distinguish between a "vision" statement, a "mission" statement, and a "purpose" statement. What folks really need to know and remember, says Hybels, is "the main thing."

• Communicate the ‘main thing’ relentlessly.

Think of fresh ways. Look for stories that reflect the vision through customers and employees, and beyond. Look for metaphors and stories in daily events, nature, the animal world, the news, etc. Then communicate that vision at meetings, lunches, in the hall and of course in more formal speeches. Telling your story in an interesting, informative and entertaining way - whether it be to your clients, employees or fans - is essential to the success of your business.

2. They Get Insulated Physically

In large companies it is particularly hard to get to see many customers, much less employees. And the vision is critical for both – what to do?

What to do:

• Lead by walking around. Get out there.

Although Tom Peters saw "managing by wandering around" as the basis of leadership and excellence, and called it the "technology of the obvious", very few CEO’s actually do it. What better way to communicate vision than to walk around – have lunch in the company cafeteria, walk the halls, be seen on the floor.

Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric, said that winning companies fully engage all of their people – and you can’t do that if you spend most of your time at executive staff meetings, or at the computer.

• Use other media.

Use emails. Put a catchy phrase, or even your one sentence vision, at the end of your emails in your signature, rather than the common and bland corporate disclaimer, or nothing. Although email is text, and cannot convey the nuance of tone and visual impact in person, it can be useful, and it costs little in precious time.

And think of all the time we spend on the phone – use it creatively. Keep your vision top of mind and you’ll be surprised how many opportunities there are to mention it. And remember that the phone can convey emotion (enthusiasm, energy, excitement) far better than an email.

• Use the Bully Pulpit

Although the Bully Pulpit refers to the Presidency, all CEO’s have a bully pulpit that can be used with vigor.

3. There is no vision

Ask most people in business and they will not know the vision of their company. Ask most CEO’s and too often there will not be a precise, distinctive one sentence answer. And there IS always a vision – it just needs to be thought of and articulated.

What to do:

• Nothing great is accomplished with caution.

Risk a little in moving a vision out of the comfort zone. OK, you say, some company just make widgets, and they are no different from any others. Beg to differ. If there is NO distinctive, they won’t be in business long.

Big visions are great, but even a small vision is better than none – whether it’s customer or employee based, benefit or feature based, micro or macro based, local or national based, price or quality based, etc. There is always something, and ideally there is something cosmic to it.

One of the great vision casters was Teddy Roosevelt who said this on national greatness:

“Like all Americans, I like big things; big

prairies, big forests and mountains, big wheat-fields,

railroads, — and herds of cattle, too, — big factories,

steamboats, and everything else.”

• Enthusiasm is the engine of action.

Thomas John Watson, Sr. was the founder of IBM, and he said, "The great accomplishments of man have resulted from the transmission of ideas of enthusiasm."

I kind of like how Teddy Roosevelt put it:, "Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster."

• Here are some classic vision castings to stimulate YOUR vision casting – for after all, we all are CEO’s of something or someone, if even ourselves:

If we are to survive, we must have ideas, vision, and courage. These things are rarely produced by committees. Everything that matters in our intellectual and moral life begins with an individual confronting his own mind and conscience in a room by himself.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

A vision is not a vision unless it says yes to some ideas and no to others, inspires people and is a reason to get out of bed in the morning and come to work. 
Gifford Pinchot

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.
Theodore Hesburgh

“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it - as long as you really believe 100 percent.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
John F. Kennedy

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

John F. Kennedy