Good Visions Articulate Possibility

I had a dream in the wee hours of the morning about the book, The Art of Possibility. This is one of my favorite books of all time. It is filled with powerful insights about servant leadership, communication, working and giving from passion, and creating meaningful vision statements that resonate. Authored in 2000 by Drs. Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, the book offers powerful methods for individual, group and organizational change.

Many organizations struggle with vision statements. My students struggle with visions for themselves or their business. This is perhaps the hardest part of creating a plan. It takes a great deal of thoughtful time up front, and is perhaps the most important aspect of the business or strategic plan.

The vision is what pulls you forward into the future. It’s what makes you get up each morning to continue working towards that possibility you are creating. Without a picture of that future to hold in your mind, you get lost in the chaos and distractions of today.

The Zanders articulated these criteria as necessary to “enable a vision to stand in the universe of possibility”:

• A vision articulates a possibility
• A vision fulfills a desire fundamental to humankind, a desire with which any human being can resonate. It is an idea to which no one could logically respond, “What about me?”
•  A vision makes no reference to morality or ethics. It is not about a right way of doing things. It cannot imply that anyone is wrong.
• A vision is stated as a picture for all time, using no numbers, measures or comparatives. It contains no specifics of time, place, audience, or product.
• A vision is free-standing – it points neither to a rosier future, nor to a past in need of improvement. It gives over its bounty now. If the vision is ‘peace on earth’, peace comes with its utterance. When ‘the possibility of ideas making a difference’ is spoken, at that moment ideas do make a difference.
• A vision is a long line of possibility radiating outward. It invites infinite expression, development, and proliferation within its definitional framework.
• Speaking a vision transforms the speaker. For that moment the ‘real world’ becomes a universe of possibility and the barriers to the realization of the vision disappear.

The vision statement is not a statement of goals you want to accomplish. The goals spring from the vision statement from “an outlook of abundance”, say the Zanders. If the vision is possible, then the goals are, too.

Many of us have seen and even participated in the creation of what we called vision and mission statements. Often, these have very little that we as humans can relate to. Some examples might be:

• Our vision is to be the number one choice for _______________ (fill in the blank)
• Our vision is to be the preeminent supplier of _________________ (fill in the blank)
• We strive to be the most innovative company in our industry

Do any of these resonate with you? Do you care? Do they stimulate you to imagine ways to transform yourself or your organization to fulfill those “dreams”? I say "dreams"because that is what a vision should be - it should be a dreamlike state full of possibility.

Here are some examples of vision statements from the Zanders’ book:

• “a vision of a world in ethical, sustainable partnership” created by an international food distribution company.
•  “the possibility of joy in the everyday” from a company that designs inexpensive home products
• “the possibility of a world living in freedom”, created by the US Army

The vision statement incorporates the concept of a desired state. It is a future state of being that you want for yourself, your life, your team, or your organization or the world.

Do you see the difference between the "visionless" statements and the three above from the book?

 Do you have a vision statement you feel is particularly powerful which meets the criteria stated above? Please share in the comments below.