Entrepreneurship
What is Vision? — a guide I wish I had!
Someone may have asked you— what is your vision for your department, for your product, or for your organisation? If you were like me, you would have been clueless, because I never knew what vision was. So, here is a guide I wish I had five years ago when I started my career.
It was the year 2018. I had found a new job right after college and I was one of the two people on the team. There were three other indirect collaborators. We were working on a new strategic initiative that was novel and never tried in this organisation. The first two weeks after joining went smoothly. I was introduced to the team and the people across organisation. After the honeymoon period was over, my manager organised a session for me with the head of the organisation. She asked me, “Aayush, what is your vision for this strategic initiative?”. I felt shivers down my spine. What did she just ask? As if the word strategy wasn’t enough, how was I going to answer what my vision for a strategic initiative was. I tried avoiding the conversation and just answered that I was yet to fully understand the organisation and so I didn’t have a fully developed vision. I am sure she must have understood my inability to answer it. I felt imposter syndrome hitting me and I was insecure. Why was I never taught what vision is despite having an education in entrepreneurship or did I just not pay enough attention? Why did I never learn what vision is? Whatever the case was, I couldn’t answer her that day. This guide is for those who feel equally clueless when they are asked what their vision is.
So, what is vision?
The first step I did to untangle the vision mystery was to start from the absolute basic, i.e. find the true, literal, dictionary meaning of the word. I went to Merriam Webster and searched for the word vision. This is what I found.
Vision — the act or power of seeing.
Umm, not really helpful in non-biological context, but it did give a start — the power of seeing. The next question was seeing what? Seeing objects around is a function of eyes. I found another definition.
Vision — something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy especially : a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation
This did seem to get me closer, the act of seeing a revelation. But, I knew this wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. So, I kept on searching.
Vision — the act or power of imagination
I did search on Oxford Dictionaries as well, and found an apt description.
Vision — the ability to think about or plan the future with great imagination and intelligence
This was more helpful. I combined all of the above definitions and used my own experience to come up with a new definition of vision for myself.
Vision is the ability to close your eyes and see or dream a future that isn’t existing at the moment. It requires you to do two activities. Think of yourself as an eagle flying high in the sky and seeing the world below you clearly from 10,000 feet, and imagine an ideal future how you want the world to exist in an ideal situation.
I now think that on that day the head of the organisation was asking me, how I saw the future of this strategic initiative unfolding, and where I thought this would go and why I thought of that future. All of this was encapsulated in just one question that she asked.
Why do we need to have a clear vision?
In order to see the world in its full glory you must have a clear vision — aided or unaided. Similarly, in order to see where you are going, you need to have a vision. If you do not have a vision, you may be on an auto-pilot mode and letting the life treat you randomly. This is same for your own life as well as organisations/departments you are heading or leading.
Having a vision allows you to have a clear context and direction. Additionally, it allows you to avoid distraction, manage obstacles, and move forward. Moreover, vision helps you to move through the foggy environment, if you have it in your mind.
Ideally, you must have a vision for yourself, your family, your life, your company, your department. If you are into politics, you must have a vision for your neighbourhood, your village, your city, your country, and the world at large. This vision should be a just vision, which is as fair as possible to as many people as possible.
How do I develop/create vision?
Going back to the definition I wrote, having a vision requires you to close your eyes and imagine a future, a better future. It requires you to leave all the messiness of the real world behind and imagine an ideal pristine situation. Therefore, the best way to develop/create a vision is to relax, clear your head, close your eyes, and imagine a world. Yes, it is as simple as that, yet very hard for many of us, because we do not regularly think of the future.
At this stage, your concern shouldn’t be whether what you envision is achievable or not. A free-thoughts manoeuvre is what’s needed at this stage. Vision is emotional. It moves you, it drives you, it motivates you.
What are some examples of vision statements?
You can have a vision for anything in life. You can have a vision for your health, for your house, for the traffic in your city, for your city’s garbage problem, a vision for greenery in your city, a vision for a product.
I generally start my vision statements with the following template. These are all lofty statements that have no limits, because these statements must champion you and others towards a goal.
I envision a <Noun> where/which …
- I envision a city where all unused empty spaces are covered with lush greenery.
- I envision a world where there is no preventable lifestyle disease.
- I envision a world in which people looking to improve their health have an accessible and informative resource at hand.
- I envision a place where people of different backgrounds come together to share their passion and knowledge about alternative building methods.
- I envision a product/platform which is used by people to make better decisions using freely available public data.
- I envision a world in which policy makers can use state-of-the-art evidence to make effective decisions for the public.
- I envision a city in which the natural flora and fauna thrive. One of the ways is to have lakes restored.
- I envision a world where no one needs to go bed hungry.
As you may have guessed, these are all visionary statements. They have the potential to move you and your team behind a just cause. This will keep you motivated when the going gets tough.
Some important considerations
A vision is generally conceived by a visionary, but this shouldn’t be a solo exercise. Many people can come together and have a vision for an ideal future. Additionally, vision is a living phenomenon and needs to be continually updated in the light of new evidence.
Let us come back …
I started this article with a personal story. If I were asked this question today, “Aayush, what is your vision for this strategic initiative?”, this is how I would answer. I envision a world in which the bureaucrats are able to take swift decisions with live and complete information.
(For context, I was working on a product that was based off the data collected by sensors to measure real-time pollution by measuring water river pollutants. The bureaucrats were looking for a digital tool that was measuring real-time pollution in the rivers.)
Strategy, Roadmap, and Milestones?
The next article will talk about strategy, roadmap and milestones after you have a vision in place. Stay tuned!
