The Vision Thing

This way, follow me

Those who know my writing know that I frequently boil down leadership to actions in an abnormal environment like war, or emergencies or change. In such an environment a leader has two accountabilities, provide direction and attract followers. I use this conceptual reduction to differentiate leaders from managers, whom I say are accountable for getting the work done in a steady-state environment and developing their people to get the work done faster and better.

I used to liken leaders to the fireman who enters the burning building and shouts “The building is on fire! This way out, people, follow me”!

When I ran leadership workshops, participants were quick to point out several flaws to my simplistic rubric:

1. “Hey, Alan. I’m expected to do both those roles – leader and manager – so which am I?”
2. “Steady state? When was that? We have continuous change and we still get work done!”
3. “I’m expected to provide direction? How would I do that? We live in a VUCA world -it’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous all at once. How can we plan for the future when we can’t figure out today?”
4. “Attract followers? Nobody wants to follow anybody; everybody wants to be a leader. Headless chickens don’t flock.”

I could go on. Usually, these workshops were for leaders at least one level, and often three or more, from the absolute top of the organization and there was a lot of pointing at the ceiling and saying, “What about them?!”

Sometimes senior executives kicked these meetings off with a broad direction for the firm so the context that these mid-level leaders could frame their vision was clearer. Sometimes we all just wished for that level of clarity.

Prerequisites for a vision

The case for change

In my lifetime John Kennedy was the first political leader people talked of as visionary. “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” seems a little weak to me today but it was inspiring in 1960. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a dream” speech touched me too. Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America” left me a little cold, even though that was my “to the right of Genghis Khan” period. But when George H. W. Bush was asked what his vision was for America, he derided it as “the vision thing.”

That’s the thing about “the vision thing;” people have to be ready for one. When Lou Gerstner arrived to turn around IBM in 1993 and he was asked the same question, he said, “The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.”

IBM had just lost $8 billion. It was subdividing into individual divisions, which competed with each other. It was buying into the ‘mainframes are dead, PCs will rule the world” mythology, but it was still its old arrogant, “We’re Big Blue!” self. The company hadn’t acknowledged they were broken. There was no compelling case for change. You can’t offer someone a new destination if they see no reason to leave home.

Hope

People also will not change if they are frozen with despair. Often leaders seeking to compel change evoke fear. “Everything we’ve ever been or done is worthless and destroyed.” “Oh, man, what’s the use.” Have you ever tried to lose weight when you are depressed? “Oh that’ll never happen. Guess I’ll just finish this pint of ice cream.”

The best leaders evoke pride in what was, what can’t be taken away, and what will not change. Then they offer the excitement of a new beginning

Reduce Resistance

“We fear change,” said Garth Algar, Wayne Campbell’s sidekick in the movie” Wayne’s World.” This phrase is repeated a lot by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in their Saturday Night Live skits which turned into this movie.  I don’t know why Mike and Dana use this, but maybe because it is what is given as the reason for change reluctance or resistance and it’s absurd.

People don’t fear change. If they did no one would ever change jobs, get married, have children, move to another city or country, or try sushi or chicken nuggets for the first time. People don’t fear change. They fear loss.

They fear that they might lose their job, or some power they’ve accumulated. They might lose the currency that their skill, developed over many years, has. They fear a loss of relationships. They fear lost pay or raises or the lost understanding of the performance management system that they have just learned how to game. So they are reluctant to change. They may even resist.

Mostly people resist change that they feel is done to them. They fear the loss of autonomy and fair input. They don’t resist all change; they resist your change. (My anti-authority, counter-dependent self knows a lot about this.)

So before a leader can introduce a vision, they  must

• Make a compelling case for why things cannot stay the way they are,
• Offer pride for what was and hope that everything won’t change, and belief in the ability of followers to make the change, and
• Enough detail about he change for followers to see the gains that compensate them for the losses, and give them a choice to commit to the change.

What is a vision?

A vision is a clear and inspiring picture of the future state. Individuals can have visions for themselves. Groups, organizations, and companies can have visions. Vision statements are often written with emotionally evocative and sensory-rich language:

Nike: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world (2022)

Honda: Serve people worldwide with the “joy of expanding their life’s potential” (2022)

Tesla: To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles

Apple: To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind (1980)

Patagonia: To use all its resources to defend life on earth

Visions evolve over time. Honda’s 1970 vision was “Destroy Yamaha;” In the 1960s Nike’s wanted to “Crush Adidas.”

Vision, Mission, and Values

There is a lot of confusion about these words and in common usage, they do overlap a lot. Here is what I used as definitions:

• A vision is a destination; it can change if you reach it. It should pull you forward
• A mission is your reason for being, your purpose, your “Why”
• Values are the principles that guide you day to day.

Clearly, there are overlaps. Is Patagonia’s vision statement above a destination or is it their mission? Both Yamaha and Adidas are still around, but the visions of Honda and Nike have changed.

The limits of vision

Visions are intended to pull you forward in the change you make. There is a difference between threat-driven change and vision-led change. Threat-driven change can move people from the burning building; it can break inertia and get people moving. But over the long term threat and the fear it produces can freeze people. Vision, the promise of something new, and better can pull people forward.

Shorter is better

I still believe that is true, but it depends on how near-term the vision is. Most of us inside organizations can hold on to a five-year vision, but only if we have some interim milestones to reinforce progress. The vision that is perpetual, always in the future is great if we are seeing improvement, some successes along the way.

Words are just words

There were times in my long consulting career when I facilitated a vision off-site and it became clear, either during the off-site or most often afterwards that all the pretty wordsmithing was B.S. This group of leaders could not or would not live up to their awe-inspiring prose. Why set a goal you can’t or won’t achieve? Because you think “the vision thing” is expected of you? Because you have the best intentions, but inadequate commitment?

Why do people continually start diet and exercise programs and repeatedly fail? Because it’s hard work. Because their metabolism doesn’t cut them any breaks and the temptations are always there. Because the expectation is unreasonable.

The Why of Vision

But there is a power in a vision. It can pull you forward. Consider a group of Middle Eastern nomads five thousand years ago wandering in the desert for forty years looking forward to a green valley where goats and sheep could graze, breed, and lactate, where beekeepers could have apiaries. They were pulled onward by a vision of a peaceful, pastoral lifestyle:

“The Land of Milk and Honey.”

This week let us wish for such a vision for us all.