Transcript #172 What is a Business Vision?

Host: Scott Weaver

Date Nov 16, 2022

Intro:  Welcome to Arise2Live Podcast, episode 172.
Creating a vision for your company can be scary or feel like fluff. But if big corporations use this to remain competitive, maybe business owners should, too. This episode clarifies what a business vision is so you can improve your future. Let’s get some vision.

Scott R. Weaver:

Today, I’m going to share a section from my up-coming book on creating a vision for your company. It is important to simplify and bring clarity to your business vision so you business owners and leaders can actually find the right path to guide your company to improve profitability.

Hello everyone, my name is Scott Weaver, host of the Arise2Live Podcast and helper to business owners looking to connect finances to operations. I ask you to please share this episode with others, especially those that need to hear about vision.  I’m so glad you are able to listen in and I am confident that you will gain new insights about this catch-all word we call Vision.

You see, my education includes graduate level business classes targeted for corporate America and I learned  nifty stuff about connecting finances with operations, about management, and a lot about strategy and vision casting. However, working with many business owners, I have found that many basic planning approaches used by corporations are not used in medium and small sized businesses. This is a shame and should not be. We owners should be using these approaches to improve our company performance.

So today, I’ll attempt to dispel some of the myths of vision planning and make it less scary and more usable,

Describing vision is hard to pin down. Why? Vision is a picture word that reminds us of that common phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” It relates to seeing with our eyes, as in ‘The eye doctor checked my vision.’ The opposite of vision is nearsightedness and fuzziness, or even blindness.

However, there is another meaning to vision. That is your inner sight or the perspective seen in your mind’s-eye. That part of you that interprets the world around you so that you do something.  This inner sight is about seeing beyond the ‘now’ and the stuff we face today so that we can see what the future could be. Using your inner perspective, along with your personal values, brings about clarity and direction in life and your company. Using the word vision means you are sharing your inner sight of the future with others.

Over the years, there’s been a lot of fancy words written about what vision is, mostly by academics trying to figure out how corporate CEOs lead successful companies. In my experience, vision is not so complicated. Here’s my definition:

Vision is simply sharing your definition of success and your intuition of what you should do for a better tomorrow.

Again, vision is simply sharing your definition of success and your intuition of what you should be doing for a better tomorrow. Your vision is unique and personal. Best results are centered on time-tested principles and values so that you can focus on a single future destination. It captures your hopes, desires, and dreams into a clear, written description that others can understand and follow. Once you articulate your vision, it becomes your company’s long-term GPS destination where you want to arrive in, say, three to ten years from now.

Strangely, vision is one of those fuzzy, soft things found in business acumen. Often, it’s the soft stuff that drives the hard things in your company. Your inner-vision, your personal purpose, and your values are part of the soft things, yet it steers you to tangible success. But because of the fuzziness, too many business leaders solely focus on the tasks that can be seen and touched. This results in living in a way too simple, one-dimensional life that limits imagination and spirit. We don’t want to become a race-car driver missing a wheel and wonder why things are not moving.

Vision is a destination—a fixed point which we focus all effort.

Strategy is a route—an adaptable path to get us where we want to go.

                                                — Simon Sinek

In many ways, your vision of a better tomorrow captures your purpose and reflects who you are. Your GPS destination puts a place on the map where your purpose can go. That’s the power of vision.

Three Parts of a Vision     5:34

It starts out realizing that your personal vision and business vision are intertwined. That’s reality. When these two parts become aligned and supportive, they stop fighting with each other and start working together to do great things.

Personal and Family Vision – This is the “you” part and it captures your ultimate dreams and desires. It answers key questions like: What lifestyle do you want for yourself and family? Do you want to work to live or live to work? What impact do you want on customers and society? What will be your legacy? All these “you” questions impact your operations of your business, how you do things in your company.

Business Vision– This is the “how” part, the vehicle to get you there. The business supports your personal vision and, in doing so, provides purpose to your company’s destination and direction. In the process of creating a vision, you set practical goals and financial targets for your company.

Written Document – This is the “share” part. Most visions are too big for one person and need help from others. Lots of it. The sharing starts with creating a written document that clarifies and solidifies your vision. This document allows you to share with others when you are not in the room with them and that is a powerful thing.

In closing, I encourage ya’ll not to think that creating a vision is mumbo-jumbo.  CEOs in corporate America don’t take a week off a year just to create a vision for their company if it didn’t work. Now, we don’t have to spend a week for our smaller companies, but we should spend some quality time on it.

Again, here’s my definition of Vision:

Vision is simply sharing your definition of success and your intuition of what you should be doing for a better tomorrow.

And there’s three parts to your vision: Personal and Family, the part of the business vision, and the part where you share with others and your company.

Your company, your employees will benefit knowing where you are taking them and will feel a sense of security when you can guide them to a better tomorrow. But the real secret of creating a vision is not for your company, but for yourself. Having a crystal clear sight to the future is like having  a compass in your hand to guide you to what’s true and give you confidence to guide others.

So let’s end the misty notions like ‘let’s make more money’ or ‘let’s beat the competition’. Your company is so much more. Step out and create your vision because when you share where you are going with your company, you and your company, Arise2Live.

Sponsor:  Today’s sponsor is Arise2Live Business Coaching.  A professional and structured system to get business owners to grow and gain freedom from the chaos of running a business. Scott uses a proprietary four step system to get you the results you need. Start running a thriving business, not a self created job. Schedule or call today on the Arise2Live website.