What Vision Is
A King James Version of the Bible says
that “without vision the people perish.” Vision has been a fundamental
principle throughout history due to its innate ability to stimulate hope in
people. For example, as a fly fisherman vision is cast before a fishing lure in
order to ensure the time, resources, and energy are utilized to their fullest
capacity. In the movie A River Runs
Through It, Paul, a character played by Brad Pitt, beautifully displays his
vision each occasion taken to fly fish in the nearby Blackfoot River. With each
trip Paul is depicted with a look of determination to bring home not one, but
several Brown and Rainbow Trout. This zeal is then executed in an artful
display as Paul tactfully casts his line upon the water to entertain and cajole
his audience to impulsively act on their instincts and bite the lure.
The culmination of A River Runs Through It is witnessed in Paul’s enduring
performance to catch a fish who does not reel-in as easily as others. Paul’s
vision becomes tested significantly more than past casts. In order for Paul to
catch this fish, he must survive being pulled with the fish down the powerful
rushing river containing rapids, rocks, and tree limbs. However, having the
image of completely reeling in the fish, every necessary action is taken regardless
of backlash, fight of the fish, or bruising from being pulled into oncoming
rocks. After a considerable change in traditional fly fishing measures, Paul is
rewarded for the strides taken toward his vision.
Jick says the true value of a vision is to
guide behavior. There is no question that Paul’s victorious experience with the
Hawg-like trout was led by an
adapting behavior. In order to become the recipient of Paul’s end objective, it
was necessary for him to adjust his behavior by degrees in order to attract, set
the hook, and successfully bring home the prize.
This fly fishing event is further supported
as the result of vision when Jick identifies various characteristics of vision
being memorable, exciting and inspiring, challenging, excellence centered, and
tangible. Each of these attributes has been peppered throughout Paul’s story,
especially the experience being excellence centered. Paul’s brother Norman said
of this awe-inspiring occurrence that “he knew at that moment he was witnessing
perfection.” [1]These
words hold considerable weight considering the majority of Norman and Paul’s
childhood was spent fly fishing together. Over the many years fly-fishing, Paul’s
expertise had developed into near perfection in the sport. His ability to
visualize his objective, recognize the need to be a creator of circumstances,
and shift behaviors to meet the demands of his craft’s vision became incredibly
fruitful.
What Vision Is Not
Without a strategic process to meet the demands vision,
vision becomes merely a nice thought. If it is not effectively constructed, shared
vision can be perceived as being unrealistic and be met with skepticism. Vision
is not a whimsically conceived idea in the mind and then quickly announced as
the current guiding element for the organization. Rather, in most cases, vision
is developed over-time; as an idea is planted in the mind, and then refined and
supported with purpose, tactic, and accountability.
How Failure to Create Effective Vision Does Not Lead to Success
In the article The Vision Thing it is said that “vision is considered fundamental
for helping a firm, quite literally, visualize its future.” In 2011, an effective
visionary forecast was not well executed by Reed Hastings (Hastings), the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of a popular DVD-by-mail business called Netflix. Rather
than craft a vision with a long-term strategy, Hastings announced a change with
the hopes for a short-term gain in profit margin. Without considering the end
results to his subscriber base, Hastings introduced the separation of DVD and
streaming into two payment plans and price increase changes in an e-mail. In
addition, the formerly all-encompassing service offered at a reasonable
one-time fee, would not be called Netflix anymore, but would be changed to
Qwikster. [2]
Jick
says that vision “grabs people” to feel proud of something they can contrast
with the realities of today and tomorrow. Hastings decision to make extremely
drastic and abrupt changes did not grab people
in a positive manner what-so-ever. In fact, almost 800,000 subscribers
cancelled their Netflix memberships in the quarter after the e-mail
announcement was sent. [3] Additionally,
in just a couple of months their stock price plummeted from around $300 per
share in July 2011 to about $69 per share in November 2011.[4]
As a change implementor, Hastings’s
experience not creating an effective vision is analogous to an Indiana Jones movie
Jick describes in Implementing Change, “It
started out with a real nice beginning. Then suddenly we got one disaster after
another. The boulder just missed us, and we got the snake in the cockpit of the
airplane—that’s what it’s all about! You’ve got to be down in the mud and the
blood and the beer.” However, Jick uses this analogy to describe how
implementing visionary changes can lead to success.
How to Develop Vision
According to Jick, visions have been
created in many different ways. Sometimes personal experiences and inspiration
is sufficient to create effective vision. However, most organizations craft
their vision based on a systematic process of information-gathering. Either
way, whether this process takes places at a workshop or off-site retreat with
key players or via public relations or advertising staff, I agree with Jick
when he says that the three most common are: CEO/leader developed, CEO-senior
team develop, and bottom-up developed. What these three groups have in common
is the leader at the top.
The CEO/leader must be heavily involved in
the process of developing effective vision as he/she naturally commands acute
communication sensitivity from the constituents involved. When this leader
speaks, it is authoritative in nature, and is received as the guiding resource
for all upcoming organizational activities.
Warren Bennis discovered that when
creating vision for long-term success, a study of the top leaders throughout
history indicates that a visionary CEO/leader must adequately search for ideas
until there is a clear on concise vision that articulates a strategic direction
and cultural values, and then motivate the organization to adopt the vision
through as many persuasive communication channels as available. Also, since
most of the recipients of change will not understand or embrace the vision
immediately, it will be critical that leadership at all degrees advocate an
empathetic approach to understand concerns and how the vision affects people as
an individual and as a department. The vision should concentrate of the
rudimentary strengths of the organization and resonate with how the people
being guided by the vision can grow as a bi-product of the implemented
vision. Measures of success must also be
enacted in order to assist the organization in being accountable to the end results.
How Creating Effective Vision Can Lead to Success
Effective visionaries are born out of many
years of persistence, patience, and improvement. Over the many years
fly-fishing, Paul’s expertise had developed into near perfection in the sport. Eventually,
he developed an incredible ability to visualize his objective, recognize the
need to be a creator of circumstances, and shift behaviors to meet his
visionary objective. These characteristics were developed from his childhood.
In the case of Netflix, Hastings may have had
vision, but in order to execute it effectively it should have had the long-term
interests in mind for stakeholders. If he would have delineated the impact to
the organization in the long-term, considering the role he plays as a change
leader, the stock price of Netflix may have risen over $300 a share instead of
the 60% decline they devastatingly experienced.
When crafting effective vision, the end
result of success must be defined. Next, distinct and measurable tactics should
be directly correlated with the end objectives to ensure accountability and to
instill an increase in motivation to that end.
Bibliography
1.
Drew. (n.d.). A River Runs Through It Script.
Retrieved November 15, 2012, from Script-o-rama.com:
http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/r/river-runs-through-it-script.html
2. Fox Business. (2011, September 19). Netflix
CEO Aplogizes, Renames DVD Division Qwikster. Retrieved November 15,
2012, from FoxNews.com:
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2011/09/19/netflix-splits-in-two-renames-dvd-division-qwikster/
3. Pepitone, J. (2011, October 24). Netflix loses
800,000 Subscribers. Retrieved Novemeber 15, 2012, from CNN Money:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/24/technology/netflix_earnings/index.htm
4. Reisinger, D. (2011, November 23). How low can
Netflix's stock go? Much lower, analysts say. Retrieved November 15,
2012, from cnet.com:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57330305-17/how-low-can-netflixs-stock-go-much-lower-analysts-say/
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