Above all other things, a vision is a tool for sustaining hope, confidence and commitment in the face of uncertainty
Perhaps few people have anticipated a date as eagerly as the 778 people who gathered in Kanungu, Uganda March 17, 2000.
They had been promised by their visionary leader that they would witness an extraordinary event: the end of the world. As one follower explained it, “Some of our leaders talk directly to God. Any minute from now, when the end comes, every believer who will be at an as yet undisclosed spot will be saved.” Like-minded believers held a party to celebrate their forthcoming rapture, roasting three bulls and consuming 70 crates of soft drinks. However, when the end of the world did not arrive as expected, the denouement was tragic: the leaders of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God poisoned their followers and set off an explosion that consumed the bodies.
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| Philip Anderson |
I relate this grisly, heartbreaking bit of history to illustrate a point: great entrepreneurs are often considered powerful, visionary leaders—but so are some raving lunatics. Having a clear and compelling vision that you and your followers believe in absolutely doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll realize your goal. Those of us who write for and work with entrepreneurs often convey the thought that they need to convert their entrepreneurial dream into a convincing and vivid vision that other can buy into. But just how important is it for you to be a visionary entrepreneur, and how do you know your vision is productive?
Having a vision is a means to a set of ends, not an end in itself. Understanding those ends allows an entrepreneur to distinguish between productive and unproductive investments in communicating a potent vision to his or her stakeholders. If you know what a vision is for and what it does, you can craft an appropriate one and update it when necessary.
Above all other things, a vision is a tool for sustaining hope, confidence and commitment in the face of uncertainty. Uncertainty can paralyze organizations. Uncertainty lends a certain spice and excitement to life when we are uncertain about things like the outcome of a sporting match or the ending of a movie. However, when people are faced with uncertainty about where they are going or what is their purpose, they find it difficult to advance. If you believe you know where you are headed, you can pursue a path with vigor, and even if it turns out to be the wrong route, you can often make reasonable progress. If you spend your time searching for a direction, forward movement stops.
Leaders replace fear, uncertainty and doubt with hope, confidence and trust. When they are uncertain, people find it difficult to cooperate with one another. Leaders restore belief that the people who follow them can rely on one another to pull in the same direction. Leaders do this by articulating a clear picture of a better tomorrow that makes sense to the people who must collaborate in order to reach that future.
A really good vision is like a movie in your head. It is a vivid picture of what it would be like to live in a better tomorrow. You can see what happens, hear what people are saying, feel the emotions associated with that better tomorrow. If you and others can vividly describe what that tomorrow is like and why it will be great to live in it, you can say with confidence that you have a shared vision. Whatever happens next, we need not fear uncertainty because we can describe what it will be like when we realize our aspirations.
However, a clear vision is necessary but insufficient to hold an entrepreneurial venture on course in the face of uncertainty. Entrepreneurs need to show with some frequency that they are making progress toward a better tomorrow, even if the path into that future is not the same one we started with. Visible progress reduces the uncertainty that is always associated with entrepreneurial ventures. It creates the self-fulfilling conviction that the organization is moving forward.
The doomsday cult I described earlier had a clear vision, but the only way to show progress toward it was to let time pass. Originally, its leaders predicted the end of the world would arrive January 1, 2000. When that date passed, they moved their prediction forward by 78 days. But they had no way to show that they were advancing, and when they ran out of ways to create the illusion of progress, they chose a catastrophic alternative.
Similarly, George Bush believed he had a clear vision when he invaded Iraq: implanting a Western-style democracy in the heart of the world’s most volatile region. Unfortunately, he didn’t ask whether the people who had to cooperate in order to realize that vision bought into it. More importantly, however, he never subjected his vision to a reality check. No amount of evidence could persuade Bush and Donald Rumsfeld that Iraq was slipping away from stability. Having convinced themselves that time would solve Iraq’s problems, they had no objective way to realize it was time to change course.
A powerful vision sustains confidence only if people can visibly see themselves progressing in the right direction. As long as they believe in the goal and believe they are closing the gap between what is and what must become, they’ll tolerate course changes. But when a vision is never subjected to a reality test, it is just a matter of time before it loses its power to uphold belief in a venture’s direction.
So a visionary entrepreneurial leader must create a shared “movie in your head” that creates confidence and conveys purpose while staying anchored to reality. In addition, a meaningful vision acts as a compass for an organization. It helps people figure out what choice to make when it’s not obvious which choice will produce the right outcome. A compass is not a road map. It shows direction, rather than specifying the path forward. A vision that makes a difference provides clear guidance that helps people make difficult decisions that hang together over time and across organizational boundaries. If we all agree on what a better tomorrow will look like, we can subject most choices to a test: will it move us toward that shared picture of what we want our future to be?
In my teaching around the world, I often cite the vision of Ittiam as an excellent example of how powerful an entrepreneurial vision can be. Ittiam’s story is told in the November, 2007 issue of DARE. Founded by seven senior managers who left Texas Instruments in India to pursue their joint dream, Ittiam has become a leading provider of original software for digital signal processors. The founders’ vision was to create the first made-in-India company with a billion dollar market capitalization built on original intellectual property, as opposed to process outsourcing or services.
Ittiam has not achieved that dream yet. But it has animated the firm for years and provided a guidepost when the firm reaches a crossroads. Ittiam’s compass points to true north when it acts in a way that makes it more likely that it can build a company whose intellectual property in the form of proprietary software is valued by the market at a billion dollars. Hundreds of extraordinarily talented employees have stuck with the firm through thick and think because they believe their joint enterprise is truly worthy of their commitment.
Especially now, in difficult economic times, you may wish to revisit your entrepreneurial vision, and give it a tune-up if necessary. First, ask yourself if the people who work in or with your organization have a shared “movie in the head” that allows each one to perceive vividly what tomorrow will be like if you achieve your dreams, and why it would be worthwhile to live in that tomorrow. Second, ask how you measure progress toward your goal and what tells you that your vision is helping you to move forward. How do you know you’re advancing toward your better tomorrow? Third, look back on some of the tough decisions you have had to make. Ask yourself if your vision helps provide you a basis for choosing. Is your vision a compass that helps you sustain a consistent direction, even as the path you pursue twists and turns?
Finally, think about when it is time for your vision to undergo a re-vision. A particular vision that once was an effective means toward various ends can lose that potency. When you realize that your vision is failing any of the three tests I have described, it’s time to revisit your true purposes and find another way to describe a better tomorrow that those who must work to achieve it believe is worth the struggle.
The author is INSEAD Alumni Fund Professor of Entrepreneurship, Director, Rudolf and Valeria Maag International Center for Entrepreneurship and Director, 3i Venturelab
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Cut the 'sloth from our ranks and we are a great nation... The only nation in fact that allows the same 'sloth minded people' to cast votes which in turn elect the apologizers and naysayers of America's greatness.
I seem to be speaking/writing of America only, but what I shout from the mountain tops and stand undaunted in making very clear is evident in all countries where there is an enterpreneur who strives to be a visionary against the odds of what is forced upon them... Whether forced by politicians, the media, lifes relations in general or natural events.
Mealer Companies LLC expects to become America's Next Major Automaker and we are doing it against the odds and against the demands and outside influences from the US government and the giant automaker they have acquired...
We will win. We will inspire. Only because of this Americana Visionary Outlook that you write so brightly of. Thank you Philip Anderson.
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