Where does a company find its values?
Managers evaluate historical, current, and forecast data in light of the values and priorities of influential individuals and groups?often called stakeholders?that are vitally interested in the actions of the business. The interrelated stages of the process are the 11 components discussed in the last section. Finally, the aim of the process is the formulation and implementation of strategies that work, achieving the company's long-term mission and near-term objectives.
It is these stakeholders who create, develop, and influence the company's vision, mission, and values. They are the ones who set the tone for the organization. Stakeholders can be from within or without an organization; and, can be from the board room to the production floor.
Successful companies -- i.e., successful strategically--are able to "mesh" the divergent interests of the stakeholder groups into a cohesive framework. In the classroom terms like "playbook" and "holistic framework" have been used to describe strategic planning. These terms are very apropos in this context. Unless the leadership of an organization is able to formulate, promulgate, and effectively implement a concise, coherent and meaningful strategic plan that incorporates mission, vision, and values, the company's true success will not be achieved.
King Solomon even acknowledged the importance of vision when he is attributed in Psalms 29:18 to saying "[w]here there is no vision, the people perish." So is vision, then, nothing more than the capacity to look today into the possibilities of tomorrow? I think so.
Some would say that vision is the difference between effective and nominal leadership. The "why/how" versus the "what/when" dichotomy raised by Ann in one of her threads.
Think of past president's with vision. Eisenhower and the interstate highway system; Kennedy, the moon mission, and Johnson, civil rights. If these leaders did not have vision would they have accomplished great things or put into motion such great achievements. These presidents will long be remembered for their legacies in these areas.
Joseph Quigley in Vision provides a more down-to-earth definition: "the most fundamental statement of a corporation's values, aspirations, and goals. It is an appeal to its members' hearts and minds. It must indicate a clear understanding of where the corporation is today and offer a road map for the future." Where the mission tells where you are going, the vision should tell you why.