Hi Shaper ✌️
Welcome to this week’s edition of INFUZED on Structure.
„If you don’t know where you’re going, you might never get there.“ - Yogi Berra.
Goals and objectives are enormously important when one tries to achieve anything in business - or life in general. But goals and objectives are arbitrary if they don’t serve a bigger purpose. For any given goal one could always argue about +/- 1, the number really doesn’t matter. A shaky ground to stand, let alone build on. What matters though, is what you want to see exist in this world.
"Mission or Vision?"
What you want to see exist in this world is the MISSION. That mission is at the root of everything you do. Everything else follows the mission and will have to change or react to circumstances along the way.
Take VISION. Vision is by definition something we see. How we imagine the future world and our position in it. We need that picture to drive our motivation, but since we don’t know how the world will look like in 5, 10, 25 years - and it will guaranteed by different from what we can imagine today - we better not make that imagination the root of our decision-making. We might end up misaligned with reality if we keep chasing our ideal future.
Let’s make a simplified example.
If your vision was to build the best & most entertaining TV channel, how successful would you be today?
If your mission however was to entertain the most people possible, you would have realised by now the new technological advances of streaming, and have built Netflix or Disney+.
„The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling, reflecting the iconic brands, creative minds and innovative technologies that make ours the world’s premier entertainment company.“ - The Walt Disney Company's Mission Statement
From there, everyone knows what to strive for. This has been ingrained since the beginning by Walt Disney. He wanted to entertain, inform and inspire. That was his mission and it's still guiding a tremendously successful company 99 years later. Despite being one of the greatest visionaries of all time, he couldn't have pictured streaming in the late 2010s.
With the Mission being the bedrock of our decisions, we can adapt our Vision, Strategies, and Goals according to the circumstances thrown at us or opportunities opening up on our way to accomplish our mission. |