Fundamentals of Level Three Leadership

62. Vision Statements

Concept

Your mission or purpose for existing is not a vision. A dream can be a vision.³⁸ A vision is a definition of what you think the future will look like or what you want to make it look like. A vision can be chronologically indeterminate, however, I assert it’s better to set a time horizon. You may or may not hit that target; if you don’t, you can reset the timeline so long as you maintain your view of what you are trying to create.

How far out should you attempt to see/look/envision? Six months is not strategic. Five years seems minimal—and was often used by many Asian countries as their strategic planning horizon. Ten to twenty years seems realizable within one person’s tenure. Jack Welch was CEO at General Electric ...