Page 32 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

22 HBR Leader’s Handbook

TABLE 1-1
Mission, values, and vision

Mission Values Vision

What it is Reason for organization’s Operating guidelines Aspiration of what the
existence for how organizational organization wants to
members behave accomplish; gives in-
dividuals a connected
sense of purpose

Time frame Enduring Enduring but with spe- Refreshed and revised
cific emphasis depend- as the environment
ing on the times changes

Style Legalistic Clear and descriptive Emotional and simple

How it is used Provides criteria for deter- Provides basis for dis- Provides the context for
mining whether to engage cussion of personal per- strategy and goal setting
in certain lines of business formance and deciding
or markets on ambiguous ethical
situations

The elements of a vision

In their classic HBR article “Building Your Company’s Vision,” Jim Collins
and Jerry Porras suggest that your enduring mission and your aspiration
are the two elements that meld together to form your vision. Based on
their research about organizations that are “built to last,” they say,

A well-conceived vision consists of two major components:
core ideology and envisioned future . . . Core ideology, the yin
in our scheme, defines what we stand for and why we exist. Yin
is unchanging and complements yang, the envisioned future.
The envisioned future is what we aspire to become, to achieve,
to create—something that will require significant change and
progress to attain.

Putting these two elements together, they explain, requires that you
“understand the difference between what should never change and what