A caveat: we don’t mean to imply that vision is necessary only if you want to become big. We understand that you might want to remain a small company. If that’s what you want, then you still need a vision. Why? Because if you’re good, there will be opportunities to grow. The only way to remain small (if that’s what you want) is to have a clear vision about what you want the company to be in the first place.

In the early phases of an organization, a company’s vision comes directly from its early leaders; it is very much their personal vision. To become great, however, a company must progress past excessive dependence on one or a few key individuals. The vision must become shared as a community, and become identified primarily with the organization, rather than with certain individuals running the organization. The vision must actually transcend the founders.

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

It’s good practice to codify your vision on paper. Writing it down forces you to think rigorously about what exactly you are trying to do. Even more important, it’s a critical step in making it the organization’s vision, rather than the vision of a single leader.

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.