Page 25 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

Introduction 15

1.

Building a

Unifying Vision

A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and
to release their energies so they will try to get there.
—David Gergen

Exceptional organizations have an exciting, clear, and simple vision—a
vision that honors and reinforces the core purpose of the organization, but
also creates a picture of where the organization is heading and what it as-
pires to accomplish in the future. Consider, for example, DuPont’s vision,
“to be the world’s most dynamic science company, creating sustainable
solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere”;
or Facebook’s, “to give people the power to share and make the world more
open and connected.” Divisions and teams within organizations also have
visions; for example, Nest, the smart-home division of Alphabet (the
parent of what was originally Google), has a vision of creating “the