How to join us
Business Purpose and Direction - The Vision, by Richard Nelson.
The editorial from Issue Two of our newsletter.
Our last editorial focused on the Personal Vision and Courage of the leader. Being clear in your purpose, your view of the future and how your values can shape the organisation’s approach to achievement is the starting point for leadership. Thinking these elements through and articulating them to others provides the beginnings of the next stage in leading the whole or part of an organisation.
Following this, it is critical that you engage your people in the process of shaping business purpose and direction. First, this involves establishing the organisation’s business purpose. This clarifies why the organisation exists, its "what you are in business for". Beyond business purpose you need to outline future destiny. This means creating a vision of the future to provide a direction that can be adjusted in relation to changes in the external environment. The fundamentals of business purpose and the vision of the future can be combined into a Vision for the organisation.
But how well a Vision will inspire and support the organisation’s capability to sustain success will not only depend on effective responses to external pressures. It must indicate how you will conduct relationships with your stakeholders: your people, customers, suppliers, communities in which you operate and shareholders. For your stakeholders, the Vision has to be convincing and compelling.
Click here for a profile of Richard Nelson.