Michael Hyatt on vision, mission, strategy, and core values

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<p>Vision, mission, strategy and core values are, in my opinion, the four foundational elements that should make up your core ideology. They are the governing forces that inform your strategic direction and tactical implementation.&nbsp;</p>



<h2>Differences between vision, mission, strategy, and core values</h2>



<p>However, while all four are important, they’re very different—and they’re often confused. Here’s how to tell them apart:</p>



<h3 id="h-vision">Vision</h3>



<p>A vision is a clear, inspiring, practical, attractive picture of your organization’s future. It’s not a vision statement—instead, as I <a href="https://amzn.to/3lkiHBH" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">discuss in my book</a>, it’s a “<a href="https://fullfocus.co/3-tips-for-creating-a-vision-script/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vision script</a>,” a three- to five-page document that talks about the future of your business three to five years from now. Written in the present tense, it should cover <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/why-and-how-to-help-your-team-self-manage-in-the-future-of-work/">the future of your team</a>, the future of your product, the future of your marketing and the future of your impact. That’s vision, and it answers the question, “Where? Where are we going as an organization?”</p>



<h3 id="h-mission">Mission</h3>



<p>Mission answers the question, “Why? Why do we do what we do?” Alongside that, there are four subquestions:</p>



<ol><li>First of all, “Who are we?” In other words, what are you in business to do? Personally, I’m in a leadership development company, and so that’s my answer to that first subquestion.&nbsp;</li><li>The second question is, “<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/serving-your-ideal-client-starts-with-understanding-their-buying-motives/">Who are your customers</a> and what problem do they have?” I serve overwhelmed but successful business owners—a distinct audience with a distinct psychographic problem.&nbsp;</li><li>Thirdly, “What’s your unique solution?” I provide the focus—and the promised transformation—that those business owners need to win at work and <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-be-successful-in-life-4165743" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">succeed at life</a>.</li><li>The fourth and final question is your mission, which answers the question, “Why?”</li></ol>



<h3 id="h-strategy">Strategy</h3>



<p><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/brand-strategy-principles/">Strategy</a> is how you’re going to get from here to the vision that you created in that first document. Strategies can change as often as the conditions on the ground change, because you’re trying to get to that destination. Of course, while your goal is unlikely to change, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-true-success-formula-for-achieving-your-goals/">how you get there</a> very well may. Once the coronavirus hit, for example, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/4-leadership-tips-for-times-of-constant-change/">our strategy had to change</a>. We’re still committed to the vision, but how we get there is going to be very different. </p>



<h3 id="h-core-values">Core values</h3>



<p>Core values are really about <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/do-your-actions-match-your-values/">who you are</a> and, more importantly, who you’re becoming on the journey to get to your vision. What kind of conduct do you expect? What kind of behavior do you tolerate? Who <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/building-your-dream-life-starts-with-defining-your-values/">are you going to be</a> in the process of fulfilling that vision?</p>



<p>Those are the differences between vision, mission, strategy and core values—all of them different, but all of them essential.</p>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><em>This article was published in December 2020 and has been updated. Photo by&nbsp;Jeremy Cowart</em></p>

Vision, mission, strategy and core values are all important for success. They're very different, but they're often confused. Here's why.

Vision, mission, strategy and core values are all important for success. They're very different, but they're often confused. Here's why. | SUCCESS

The Difference Between Vision, Mission, Strategy and Core Values

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How Vision, Mission, Strategy & Core Values Differ | SUCCESS

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Michael Hyatt is the chief executive officer and founder of Michael Hyatt &amp; Company. He has scaled multiple companies over the years, including a $250M publishing company with 700+ employees and his own leadership development company that has grown over 60% year over year for the past four years. Under his leadership, Michael Hyatt &amp; Company has been featured in the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America for three years in a row. He is also the author of several New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today best-selling books, including Platform, Living Forward, Your Best Year Ever, Free to Focus, and his newest book The Vision-Driven Leader. He enjoys The Double Win with his wife of 40+ years, five daughters, and nine grandchildren. Learn more at MichaelHyatt.com.

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Michael Hyatt

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<p><br>Is vision important in the midst of a global pandemic? Absolutely. In fact, it's more important than ever. Why? Because, as Andy Stanley says, “vision leaks.”</p>



<p>The more challenges you face, the more resistance you encounter, the more obstacles you're trying to overcome—the more you use up the tank of gas that's in your vision. And unless you, as a leader, refill it for yourself and for the people you're trying to lead, they're going lose connection to that transcendent hope that keeps them in the race when they want to quit. So you've got to inject that vision. That presupposes that you have a vision that's clear, and it presupposes that you keep talking about the vision. </p>



<p class="has-text-align-center">***</p>



<p>Back in the midst of the Great Recession, I had an executive coach who said to me, “You've got to keep speaking the vision.” So I did speak the vision. I did keep talking about the vision, even when it seemed impossible to accomplish. Finally, I went to her one day and I said, “I'm tired of hearing myself talk about the vision. You know, I feel like that's all I'm talking about. I'm talking about the vision here, I'm talking about the vision there. Can I stop?” She said, “When you're tired of talking about vision, you're half done.” Why? Because <em>vision leaks</em>. If you don't refill the bucket, nobody else is going to. </p>



<p>You may be the last best chance of achieving your vision, but you've got to give voice to it. Yes, even in the middle of a crisis. </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><strong><em>Related: <a href="Vision: The Essential Leadership Ingredient">Vision: The Essential Leadership Ingredient</a></em></strong></p></blockquote>

Vision is more important than ever in the midst of a global pandemic, because ‘vision leaks.’

Vision is more important than ever in the midst of a global pandemic, because ‘vision leaks.’ | SUCCESS

Why Vision Matters Now More Than Ever

Why Vision Matters Now More Than Ever | SUCCESS

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<p>Vision,
as I see it, is a clear, inspiring, practical, and attractive picture of your
organization’s future. It doesn’t have to be 10 or 20 years down the road,
though that might be helpful. I’m talking about an imagined future—usually just
three to five years out—superior to the present, which motivates you, which
guides day-to-day strategy and decision-making, and around which your team can
rally.</p>



<p>Without
this, you’re effectively voting for the status quo. Your organization doesn’t
need a leader unless they want to change. It doesn’t take a leader to maintain
the status quo. A competent manager will do just fine. If, however, you find
the status quo unacceptable and want to focus your efforts, energize your team,
and scale your business, you must be a vision-driven leader.</p>



<p>By
formulating a compelling vision of the future, leaders can achieve what was
previously considered impossible. They can develop meaningful strategies,
attract A-plus talent, and take their organizations to new and exciting places.
But for many leaders, it’s not as easy or straightforward as it sounds. You
might be one of them, and I really can’t blame you.</p>



<p>In his book <em>What You Don’t Know About Leadership but Probably Should</em>, Baylor professor Jeffrey Kottler defines vision as the “initial task” of leaders. It’s the first thing, the top priority.</p>



<p>But
in my experience as the chairman and chief executive officer of Thomas Nelson
Publishers, one of the world’s largest English-language publishers before its
2011 acquisition by HarperCollins, and now as the CEO of my own
leadership-coaching company, I find more leaders lack vision than those that
have it. </p>



<p><p>Through
no fault of their own, they’re often dismissive of, confused about, and
ill-equipped to create compelling visions for their organizations. Why? Here
are three problems leaders typically face in regards to vision. </p>
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<h3>1.
Leaders downplay the need. </h3>



<p>I’ve
seen a tendency to be impatient with developing vision among some of the
business owners and executives I’ve coached over the years. I even worked for a
CEO like that. He wouldn’t make time for vision. He didn’t think it was his
strength or even his responsibility.</p>



<p>Instead,
he appointed a committee, put me in charge of it, and said, “You guys do the
vision thing. Come up with a vision for where we’re going, and then let me know
what you’ve decided.” Instead of sending us off on our own, he could
have—should have—joined us at the table. If he had, his executives could have
asked him the kind of probing questions necessary to arrive at a vision he
could endorse.</p>



<p>My
old boss is not alone. Contemporary leadership suffers from a vision deficit.
According to one study of 466 companies, respondents identified the following
as one of the top-felt corporate deficiencies: “Leaders who can create a
compelling vision and engage others around it.” What’s more, that “need was
both a top priority and also perceived as the most lacking competency in
next-generation leaders.” </p>



<p>One
of the things we have to do as leaders is to create or point to a larger
purpose and story. Our teams want something that requires their best effort,
that requires innovation in their thinking, that inspires their imagination.
And it’s up to us to ask ourselves, <em>Does what we’re trying to do as an
organization create that kind of inspiration? Is it something that’s
challenging, or just business as usual?</em></p>



<h3>2.
Leaders are confused about vision. </h3>



<p>One
reason there’s such an absence of vision-driven leadership these days stems
from a misunderstanding about vision. Vision is not the same as mission. Nor is
it the same as strategy.</p>



<p>Vision
is an act of seeing what the future could be, and then articulating that
potential in an inspiring, clear, practical, and attractive way—what I call a
Vision Script—which the leader’s teams can then follow into the future. That’s
what vision-driven leaders like George Eastman did with photography, Henry Ford
did with the automobile, and Steve Jobs did with personal computing. They
instinctively knew that people are looking for something to believe in, an
outcome to embrace, a winning aspiration.</p>



<p>Leaders
also make the mistake of thinking of vision as a static quality or a quirk of
personality; either you have a powerful vision or you don’t. But a compelling
vision of the future is really something anyone can develop if they know how.
And it’s something vital to develop, because our ultimate success and failure is
on the line.</p>



<p>When
we have a compelling, unifying view of the future, and when we communicate it
to the team with passion and purpose, it can motivate people to accomplish
astonishing things. Those who lack vision—or, more to the point, won’t give it
the proper attention—are unready for the challenge of leadership.</p>



<p>I’ve
witnessed this transformative power of vision while coaching thousands of
business leaders to win at work and succeed at life. But a vision will work
only if you’re willing to do the necessary work to craft one. </p>



<h3>3.
Leaders don’t feel equipped. </h3>



<p>One
of the reasons leaders downplay vision or don’t see the need for it is
self-protection. They feel ill-equipped to create and cast a compelling picture
of the future. Like my old boss, the prospect leaves them feeling uncomfortable
or worse.</p>



<p>No one enjoys doing something that feels foreign to their skill set, but this challenge is especially tough for leaders. Why? Because we assume they’re supposed to have all the answers. They’re supposed to be the most competent, the most in command. When leaders come up short on vision, it’s like admitting a weakness or a shortcoming. It seems easier to downplay “the vision thing” and jump to tasks at which they excel: strategy, execution, team building, whatever.</p>



<p>I
often hear from men and women who started a business or found themselves
promoted into positions of responsibility and now feel the pressure to level
up. They know that involves vision, but they feel unprepared. Some feel as if
they’re imposters—as if it’s only a matter of time before they’re found out and
lose it all. But if you’re not trained in crafting a vision, how can you be
expected to manufacture a compelling one out of thin air?</p>



<p>I’ve
been there. I get it. I started at square one to learn the art of crafting a
compelling vision, and now I’m so passionate about it that I’ve created a
myriad of resources to help others do the same. But as you begin to do the hard
but necessary work of crafting a compelling vision, be encouraged—a compelling vision
is the essential ingredient for successful leadership. That single building
block can and will guide your company forward with intention and energy. You
can be a vision driven leader.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p><em>Excerpted from&nbsp;</em><a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://visiondrivenleader.com/" target="_blank">The Vision Driven Leader</a><em>&nbsp;by Michael Hyatt. Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Copyright 2020. Used with permission. <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.BakerPublishingGroup.com" target="_blank">www.BakerPublishingGroup.com</a></em><br><br></p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><strong><em>Read next:</em></strong> <strong><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-lead-in-a-crisis/">How to Lead in a Crisis</a></strong></p></blockquote>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><em>Photo by BBONUSP/Twenty20.com</em></p>

Vision is a clear, inspiring, practical, and attractive picture of your organization’s future. Without this, you’re effectively voting for the status quo.  An excerpt from 'The Vision Driven Leader' by Michael Hyatt

Vision is a clear, inspiring, practical, and attractive picture of your organization’s future. Without this, you’re effectively voting for the status quo.  An excerpt from 'The Vision Driven Leader' by Michael Hyatt | SUCCESS

Vision: The Essential Leadership Ingredient

Vision is a clear, inspiring, practical, and attractive picture of your organization’s future. Without this, you’re effectively voting for the status quo. An excerpt from 'The Vision Driven Leader' by Michael Hyatt

Vision: The Essential Leadership Ingredient | SUCCESS

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Michael Hyatt

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