Vision Precedes Strategy
One of my favorite things to do is strategize. There's something about figuring out how to outsmart an opponent during a competition. The best example in my life of this is from sports. If you've read some of the other E-Impact Blog entries you know that there is no shortage of examples from sports. The reason is two-fold. Number one, I loved playing sports growing up and I still love playing sports to this day. I see many examples of strategy all the time. Number two, I learned many lessons from the strategies I practiced and developed during my sports career.
Nothing Like a Cohesive Team
In team sports, it’s extremely important to develop a good strategy because players must rely on their teammates throughout a game. The strategy requires cohesiveness, not just ways to combat and opponent. In fact, there's also a lot of emphasis put on predicting the plans of collaboration that your opponents may have. In other words, you have to prepare for how you believe another team's players will work together.
My favorite sport to strategize about is football. In the National Football League (NFL) there are eleven players on the field for each team. Every player has different responsibilities and as I’ve mentioned before, there are many different types of athletes on the field at one time. At higher levels of football, coaches are more dedicated to strategies than teaching fundamentals. The second and third most important coaching positions on a team are the offensive and defensive coordinators (they’re not even coaches). The term manager is a more appropriate title for the head coach. I think Major League Baseball (MLB) and world soccer (football) has the term correct. The head coach's job is really to manage everything that deals with a team's on field activities. They really need to be a great leader and motivator but also understand the strategies of all parts of the game. Their responsibilities are much less teaching how to play football than strategizing about how to use world class athletes in unison.
The professional levels and even collegiate sports provide some of the most competitive environments in the world. It is a huge business with billions of dollars at stake. One cannot minimize the effect they have on our society and culture. I do however, need to point out the things that make sports simple. I don't mean easy. Professional sports franchises are there to make money and win games. The goals are simple. Some may argue that the money aspect really complicates things.
I believe that there is a very strong correlation between winning and earning money. Just look at the contracts of the best players. They give their teams the best chances to win. They have the largest contracts, longest contracts, and the contracts of which the largest percentage of the money is guaranteed. See these resources for more information about how contracts work and how important guaranteed money is:
Why so Simple?
The reason why sports at the highest level is so simple is because there's no question of what the most important things are for all the franchises. They are supposed to make money and they have to win. The vision for every team and every player is absolutely the same. During the off season, when teams are signing free agents and drafting players, every fan, no matter the previous successes or failures of their team, can picture their team hoisting the championship trophy at the end of the following season. It is that hope that gets players to train hard and fans to consume the content that their favorite teams and leagues provide. It's what makes the professional sports leagues run and make money. I have been a New York Knicks fan since I was a kid. Once the 21st century came around there was not a whole lot to cheer about. But, every year when their record was 0 and 0 I had some sort of hope that the season could be successful. It wasn't likely that they were going to win an NBA championship any of those seasons but statistically they weren't any less likely than the Lakers, Spurs, Heat, or any of the other teams that have contended over the years.
It's important to note the simplicity of a sports franchise’s mindset because most businesses and other organizations struggle with their vision. It doesn't matter how intelligent or how educated or even how much experience the founders or leaders of a business have if they can't define the “why” of the organization. There must be a clear vision for a company to work towards. Or else, all of the people involved will struggle to collaborate. What good is an all-star team of football players or a star team of retail employees if they don't understand why they've been brought together?
It's very hard to motivate people to give their best effort if they don't know why. Developing a vision is the most important thing that a leader can do. The NFL is successful because everyone, even the fans, understand why the franchises exist. They are owned by some of the most motivated, intelligent, and wealthiest people in the world. They are not short on anything you could ask for in the owner and leader of a huge organization. Most of them acquired the financial needs to purchase or begin a professional sports franchise because of their ability to lead and run a business. They see the opportunity of owning an NFL franchise as one of the best life and business decisions they could ever make. There is undoubtedly a prestige factor but they know and want to be involved with the vision and goals that a professional sports franchise has. They are not starting their own business; they're joining another one. They probably don't have the time, the mental capacity, or desire to build another business that requires a billion dollar investment and vision development. They gladly join the club the exclusive club that is NFL owners and higher great people to execute the vision and develop strategy.
Humble Beginnings
The largest organizations all had to start somewhere. Apple was started in Steve Jobs garage. Microsoft was started by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to market a simpler computer language interpreter. Nike was started by Phil Knight out of his car. McDonald's started off with one store. There's no doubt that all these organizations have developed excellent strategies to be as successful as they have been over the years. But, they all strategized differently. This is because there are different people leading the organizations. They were started in different areas and they’re in different industries. But, it’s also because of the randomness human decision-making. The common theme is the strength of their vision.
I recently had a major career change. I worked for a wonderful organization for twelve years. I wouldn't change those twelve years for anything because it was clear to me what needed to be done. It was almost as if I was a franchisee of a huge organization. The mission of the company was clear and my job was to execute it. When I got together with other people from the organization in my position, we always knew how to judge each other's progress. We knew who was successful and who wasn’t. We knew who the company and the leadership was happy with. We also knew who they weren't so happy with. It really simplified a rather complex job in the financial industry. It allowed me, the people that I worked with. and all the other teams across the country to concentrate solely on execution. This isn't to say that execution was easy but development and creativity were not as important as hard work and grit.
The most successful people in my previous position put the work in. Every year they would grind and at the end of the year the work would pay off. Shortly after that, the New Year would come, the vision was clear, and the hard work would begin again. This was a great environment for a young person still new to the workforce. It was just like collegiate sports. I knew why we were doing what we did. I just needed to take the given direction and execute. I needed to take action early and often. This is why in the impact movement we talk about taking action all the time. You must learn. But, you also have to implement what you learn. Most of the time, you have to implement consistently to find future success.
Big Change
A clear vision leads to the simplest execution for you and your team. Make sure everyone involved understands the purpose of your organization.
There came a time where my personal vision didn't align as clearly with my former employer. This doesn't mean the vision of the company was wrong, changed, or that I was wrong. It simply meant that I was not as fulfilled in executing the same vision as I had for the previous twelve years. Prior to my experience in financial services I worked in radio. It was a similar scenario where I wasn’t involved in setting division but I appreciated it and I believed that I could thrive in that environment. When the change came, it was a little strange for me to begin developing my own vision and goals. But, it was an amazingly freeing feeling. I had never experienced anything like it. It was great. However, it was also more complicated. I was suddenly in a not so simple situation. I had become an expert at executing the vision that was previously set forth for me. My desire to execute changed.
My business partner Stacee and I were in similar situations. We worked for the same company and were experiencing a similar shifting vision. We felt very uncomfortable wrestling with our new visions and the old one. We have talked about challenges being success hurdles. While I wouldn't call our new business, Initiative Impact, a success yet, I believe the mental exercises that we went through to get to where we are today were a tremendous success. I hope and pray that our business ultimately is.
Once Stacee and I allowed ourselves to pursue more deeply our new visions, things cleared up a bit. We thought in detail about what we wanted and what we felt was most important. We developed various scenarios in our minds and even wrote some of them down. We let our creative juices flow. After much thought, we were able to develop a well-defined mission for a new company. Up until that point it seemed impossible to leave our previous positions. I used to believe I would work for the same company for fifty years. But when I experienced what a real visioning process is like, I found myself to be infinitely more curious than I had ever been. At that point, it became an easy decision to resign my position and begin to chase a new vision. Execution and vision have been in direct alignment since then.
Visioning
My thought process for this blog entry is not about how to scale your impact project to the greatest thing you could ever imagine. However, it is to help you develop your greatest vision. I believe that if you have your greatest vision and you understand your “why”, as Quinn Tempest said in episode 22 of Speaking of Impact, it will be much simpler to execute. Impactmakers need to have a well-defined vision so that it's clear to them and anyone else who hears the message what needs to be done. I'll take an excellent vision and mediocre strategy over a foggy vision and the most detail strategy any day.
I touch on some visioning and goal setting strategies in my book. Research shows that the brain leans into what is habitual. My number one suggestion in envisioning is to consider what brings you the most joy on a consistent basis. Identify at least ten things that you find yourself participating in or learning about. Write them all down and document over a period's time (preferably at least a month) and review your findings when complete. I think you might be surprised at what you find. I guarantee that there will be things on that list you can do to make the world a better place. In concluding your initial visioning (it really never ends) you should finish with a documented description. It could be a video, audio file, or a written document. Make sure it describes the exact situation that you would like yourself, your family, and the world to be in at a point at least a year in the future. I prefer to have at least three long-term time periods to assume. It is usually one year, three to five years and five to ten years.
The moment you have a vision you're making an impact. Remember, it doesn't take a world famous movement. Make your goals desirable and clear and your motivation will not wane. Your impact starts today and never ends.
Vision always proceeds strategy.