Vision & Strategy: Developing your entrepreneurial legacy
What if we could use our minds to power prosthetics? What if we could track our fitness with body measurements simply by looking in a mirror? What if we could upload skillsets to our brain and learn a whole topic in minutes?
These are the kinds of questions that fuel entrepreneurial vision.
Defining Vision & Strategy
Strong visions and strategies are so critical not only because they provide a roadmap for companies but also because they give employees an intrinsic sense of meaning and purpose for their work that inspires and motivates them.
A vision is an ever-evolving mental conceptualization of the “end-game.” Leaders often simplify their vision into a statement but it is so much more. It is a living roadmap for the organization’s future. It’s the purpose, cause, and beliefs of the company. A strategy is the competitive approach taken to accomplish the vision.
“The stage metaphor is an apt one. You can build the theater, train the actors, buy the costumes, and sell the tickets, but there is no show until someone writes and produces the play.” — Dr. Edwin Locke on the criticality of vision
In his infamous TED talk, Simon Sinek explains that most companies can easily articulate what they do and how they do it, but few can clearly articulate why, which is the basis for a strong vision. For instance, it’s quite common for entrepreneurs to start with designing a product or service (the what and how) rather than building the vision of the organization. So how do entrepreneurs go about creating a strong vision?
What does high Vision & Strategy performance look like?
As mentioned in our first blog of the Eight Pillars of Entrepreneurship, we will delve into high-performance in each of the pillars. First on the list is the Vision & Strategy Pillar, which is a set of behaviors related to opportunity recognition, conceiving a strategic vision, and selling the idea to others.
Entrepreneurs that are skilled in this Pillar are able to clearly conceptualize and architect a mental schema of the future and then communicate it in a way that excites and energizes stakeholders. They are able to build foresight by acquiring facts, filtering and selecting the most important facts, and then integrating them into a simple structure of a few ideas. Over time, they consistently question and check their vision against reality in order to evolve and improve it.
Here are some examples of core Vision & Strategy behaviors:
- Identify gaps and recognize unique opportunities in the market
- Connect and integrate seemingly disjointed concepts
- Conceive a competitive solution that has strong market-product fit
- Evaluate and scrutinize various options for solutions
- Develop a compelling long-term vision and mission
- Scan the environment to understand trends in the industry
- Gather competitive intelligence and develop a competitive strategy
- Architect a mental picture of the future and communicate it in a way that excites and energizes stakeholders
Vision Impossible: Make Humans a Space-Bearing Civilization and Multi-Planetary Species
In thinking of a strong example of high-performance in the Vision & Strategy Pillar, one entrepreneur is at the forefront of my mind: Elon Musk. Despite any controversy, Musk, is one of, if not, the most visionary leader of our time. Musk is on a mission to solve the world’s biggest problem — the survival of the human race. No, Musk is not an alarmist or a lunatic; his concern is legitimate. Due to the threat of nuclear war and the climate crisis, we have never been closer to global catastrophe than we are today.
But we aren’t here to talk about the end of the world. Let’s talk about the larger-than-life entrepreneur. Below I point out four things Musk has done to conceive an intricate, competitive strategy to make his vision of enabling humans to become a multi-planetary species through his company SpaceX.
Musk is not delusional despite what his critics may say. He is highly aware that his vision sounds seemingly absurd and unattainable to others; interplanetary-travel is a decades-long project with a high risk of failure. Instead of letting the enormity of his vision and nay-sayers prevent him, he instead conducted intensive research and strategically took the problem apart piece-by-piece and identified a series of manageable subgoals to set the path towards his ultimate vision.
For instance, to colonize Mars he knew he would need rocket ships. But after several trips to Russia in an attempt to purchase some, he realized the lack of affordable technology was going to be a huge barrier. For months, he studied physics and aerospace and sought the brightest minds to help and advise him, leading him to conclude that as a stepping-stone to his grand vision, he needed to build reusable rockets (which had never been done before). In 2017, 15 years after launching SpaceX, they became the first private company to successfully launch a reusable rocket and in 2020 the first to send astronauts to space in a reusable rocket. He has so many more milestones he needs to accomplish to reach the pinnacle of his vision but that is the beauty of his vision.
Another reason Musk excels is that he does not treat his vision and strategy as static or rigidly adhere to his plan. Instead, he constantly evaluates and revises his vision. He knows the future never goes according to plan and that society rapidly changes, introducing new trends, technology, and priorities. He leaves the flexibility to evolve and adapt his vision accordingly.
Musk does not just conceive a vision — anyone can come up with an out-of-this-world idea (pun intended) — he inspires people to adopt his vision. When Musk started SpaceX, many scientists were doubtful, his peers advised against it, and the public ridiculed him. Yet he was still able to convince the right people to get involved. Today, SpaceX has over 6,000 employees.
“That’s the thing about extreme entrepreneurialism: There’s a fine line between madness and genius, and you need a little bit of both to really change the world.” — Chris Anderson, Wired.
Despite Musk’s numerous achievements and awards, like any other entrepreneur, he has both strengths and weaknesses. For instance, he is notorious for high turnover in his organizations due to his management style. But I don’t want to add to all the criticism. I say this only to point out that Musk is far from perfect and that a strong vision is not sufficient for entrepreneurial success. We will discuss other important areas of performance in the remaining blogs in the series.
Tips for improving Vision & Strategy performance
Below I’ve listed science-based tips to help you develop your entrepreneurial Vision & Strategy skills:
- Set your ambitions high and challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone
- Begin with the problem, not the solution
- Actively build your foresight and forecasting capabilities by doing in-depth research and studying societal trends both in and outside your industry
- Remember, a product is not a company; products come and go in organizations (a product-vision is different from your overall vision)
- Thus, it is important to think about why you’re building your product and start from there
- Gather customer feedback as part of the vision-development process
- Start with the big picture, then break it down into manageable tasks by creating a hierarchy of goals
- Simplify your vision to clearly communicate to others
Additional Resources:
Books
- Start with Why by Simon Sinek
- Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
- The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future by Steve Case
- Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins
Articles
- To Lead, Create a Shared Vision, HBR
- Creating a Purpose-Driven Organization, HBR
- The Importance of Vision, HBR
- Vision Statements: Why You Need One and How to Create One, Entrepreneur
- Vision: The Driver of Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneur
- 6 Timeless Strategies That Drive Entrepreneurial Success, Entrepreneur
- A Short Guide to Strategy for Entrepreneurs, HBR
Videos
- Elon Musk: The Real Life Iron Man documentary
- How great leaders inspire action — Simon Sinek’s TED talk
- What will the future look like? Elon Musk speaks at TED2017
- Your strategy needs a strategy, Martin Reeve’s TED talk
Visit Blackhawke’s Medium publication, From I-O to IPO, to learn more about how industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology science can be applied to help startups increase performance and accelerate growth.
