You’ve got to think about ‘big things’ while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.Alvin Toffler[1. Rod Willis, "Dare to Imagine the Future: An Interview with Alvin Toffler," Management Digest, 1988.]
The reason most vision statements fail is that they’re as statements.
Instead of treating a company vision as a North Star—something that is used to guide decision-making—most companies attempt to codify the vision in a brief statement that’s treated as an endpoint. They treat a vision statement as a magic tool: it’s as if just by having one, they’ll be imbued with some preternatural power that supercharges their business.
But, company visions aren’t magical talismans. Company visions are tools.