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Building a Unifying Vision 31

encing a major financial crisis, is famously misquoted for saying, “The last
thing IBM needs is a vision.” This was considered a startling comment
from a prominent senior leader who had previously been a consultant at
McKinsey and was famous for his visionary and strategic acumen. What
he really said was that “the last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.”
Gerstner helped IBM refashion its vision as a hardware provider to a pro-
vider of integrated solutions. But he started that process in his second year
after first dealing with cash flow problems, getting the right leadership
team, and redesigning the structure of the company at the beginning of his
tenure.

How to gauge whether you need a new vision
To understand whether your organization needs a new vision, first assess
the current vision. Is there one? Does it meet the criteria laid out for a good
vision earlier in this chapter? (See table 1-4, “Is it time to create or refine
your company’s vision?” for more questions to ask.)
If you are interviewing for a new leadership role, you should ask each
person you talk with to describe the vision, not just for the company, but
also for the unit that you might be leading. That’s a quick way for you to
learn whether one really exists or whether you need to change it. In some
cases, it will be obvious, because of either performance shortfalls or a cri-
sis—and that may be why you are being hired. In other cases, however, you
may see the need for a new vision, but others may not.
Even if you’re not new to your organization or position, you should pe-
riodically test whether everyone truly understands the vision by talking to
a random sample of people in your organization or department—say,
fifteen to twenty. Ask each to quickly share their view of where they think
the organization is heading over the next few years and how they feel about
it. If you get many different answers or the answers aren’t convincing, then
perhaps it’s time to get to work on a new or refreshed vision. You should
also periodically ask yourself and your team whether there have been sig-
nificant changes in the business environment, technology, or competition
that should trigger a rethinking of the vision.