Page 48 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

38 HBR Leader’s Handbook

questions to address in focus groups or through interviews, and then use
the emerging themes as a basis for the vision. As you decide on the right
path, consider how you’ll incorporate your point of view from the previous
step into this process. Do you want to insist on it (as a principle)? Do you
want it to be a starting point for conversation (as a first draft)?
For example, when Wesleyan University was revisiting its vision, its
president Michael Roth began by writing a draft vision with a few col-
leagues. But Wesleyan had many different constituencies (faculty from
many disciplines, alumni, students, employees, community) who all saw
things from their own perspectives, so he knew it would be intensely
criticized by other stakeholders, and it was. As Roth described, the vi- sion
needed to capture “the tension between being outlandish and Avant
Garde; with wanting to be effective and making serious contributions; and
between inclusivity and generosity of spirit through an education steeped
in liberal arts. We wanted it to be broad enough for both a chemist and a
musicologist.” But as it circulated and his team changed it in response to
the feedback, he saw it improving. Roth credits this process of passionate
dialogue with the ultimate breadth of the vision.
That dialogue also needed to end. As he felt the team was getting
close—that the vision was good enough—he announced that after ten more
days, he would stop the process. The vision that Roth and Wesleyan ended
up with was:

To provide an education in the liberal arts that is characterized
by boldness, rigor, and practical idealism . . . where distinguished
scholar-teachers work closely with students, taking advantage of
fluidity among disciplines to explore the world with a variety of
tools . . . while building a diverse, energetic community of students,
faculty, and staff who think critically and creatively and who
value independence of mind and generosity of spirit.

From Roth’s perspective, further debate would have added very little, made
the statement overly complex, and not significantly improved the aspira-
tional and exciting view of where the school was going.