The goal is to become a shaper of culture and builder of people so that the company can be great for decades beyond your own life span. When you’ve found people who are as fanatic about getting the essential details right as you are, when you’ve taught them how to build and lead a system that delivers consistent tactical excellence, when they strive to far surpass what you yourself achieve during your own tenure, then you’ve truly set the foundation for an enduring great company.

Much of the material in this chapter is based on extensive research at Stanford and the article “Organizational Vision and Visionary Organizations” (California Management Review, Fall 1991). We need not go into all of the theoretical underpinnings and background research of the framework here. The essence of it is that a good vision consists of:

1. CORE VALUES AND BELIEFS

1. PURPOSE

1. MISSION

That’s it! We exist not just to build, but to build great things—great buildings, a great culture, great client relationships, a great collaborative team, and it all adds up to building a great company.” And so, they discovered their purpose: We exist to build great things.

The DPR founding team came away from its “Constitutional Convention” with a clearly crafted vision based directly upon the framework in the vision chapter from Beyond Entrepreneurship. In addition to the purpose, they articulated four enduring core values (see the following page) and set an audacious goal—to become a truly great construction company by the year 2000—brought to life with a vivid description composed of a dozen tangible images. These were: We will have consistently achieved the lowest possible safety modifier for a general contractor of our size. We have built a major project that has been recognized in an industry magazine. Following a pilot plant project, we are invited back to build a major manufacturing facility without competition. Our friends back East will mention that they have heard about DPR’s greatness. Our families will say we work for a great company. We are short-listed on every project in which we express an interest. For five consecutive years, we never missed an opportunity to be asked back by one of our past clients. We are used by a reputable authority on business as an example of a great company. We receive letters from customers and subcontractors praising DPR and their efforts. We will have minorities and women in senior-level estimator and project manager positions. A national magazine will have written a positive article about DPR and our success. We will routinely receive unsolicited referrals for major projects.

As described earlier, one of the primary functions of corporate vision is to add meaning, to be a source of motivation for extraordinary human effort. A clear and compelling vision is essential to people seeing the importance of their work. If you haven’t yet read Chapter 4 on vision, read it. If you haven’t set a vision, do so.

Also, remember that one of the components of a good vision is a set of core values and beliefs, a set of guiding principles and precepts. This underlying set of core values plays an essential role in guiding people’s daily behavior and standards. In fact, there is a direct link between values and tactical execution. For example, if one of your core values is “treat customers like human beings” and if it is well inculcated through your organization (as it is at L.L.Bean), people are going to treat customers like human beings.

1. Core Values: the handful of rules defining the culture, which are reinforced through your People (HR) systems on a daily basis.

1. Core Purpose: the top leader’s regular stump speech to keep everyone’s heart engaged in the business.

3. Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG®): the 10- to 25-year goal that provides constant context for all of the decisions made throughout the organization.

1. Priorities/Themes: a handful of three- to five-year, one-year, and quarterly priorities, which require repeated review on a daily and weekly basis to keep them top-of-mind.