VISION
Truly great companies understand the difference between what should never change and what should be open for change, between what is gen- uinely sacred and what is not. This rare ability to manage continuity and change – requiring a con- sciously practiced discipline – is closely linked to the ability to develop a vision. Vision provides guid- ance about what core to preserve and what future to stimulate progress toward. But vision has become one of the most overused and least understood words in the language, conjuring up different im- ages for different people: of deeply held values, out- standing achievement, societal bonds, exhilarating goals, motivating forces, or raisons d’être. We rec- ommend a conceptual framework to define vision, add clarity and rigor to the vague and fuzzy con- cepts swirling around that trendy term, and give practical guidance for articulating a coherent vision within an organization. It is a prescriptive frame- work rooted in six years of research and refined and tested by our ongoing work with executives from a great variety of organizations around the world. A well-conceived vision consists of two major components: core ideology and envisioned future . (See the exhibit “Articulating a Vision.”) Core ide- ology, the yin in our scheme, defines what we stand for and why we exist. Yin is unchanging and com- plements yang, the envisioned future. The envi- sioned future is what we aspire to become, to achieve, to create – something that will require sig- nificant change and progress to attain. Core Ideology Core ideology defines the enduring character of an organization – a consistent identity that tran- scends product or market life cycles, technological breakthroughs, management fads, and individual leaders. In fact, the most lasting and significant contribution of those who build visionary com- panies is the core ideology. As Bill Hewlett said
company exists to make technical contributions for the advancement and welfare of humanity. Compa- ny builders such as David Packard, Masaru Ibuka of Sony, George Merck of Merck, William McKnight of 3M, and Paul Galvin of Motorola understood that it is more important to know who you are than where you are going, for where you are going will change as the world around you changes. Leaders die, products become obsolete, markets change, new technologies emerge, and management fads come and go, but core ideology in a great company endures as a source of guidance and inspiration. Core ideology provides the glue that holds an organization together as it grows, decentralizes, di- versifies, expands globally, and develops workplace diversity. Think of it as analogous to the principles of Judaism that held the Jewish people together for centuries without a homeland, even as they spread throughout the Diaspora. Or think of the truths held to be self-evident in the Declaration of Inde- pendence, or the enduring ideals and principles of the scientific community that bond scientists from every nationality together in the common purpose of advancing human knowledge. Any effective vi- sion must embody the core ideology of the organi- zation, which in turn consists of two distinct parts: core values, a system of guiding principles and tenets; and core purpose, the organization’s most fundamental reason for existence. Core Values. Core values are the essential and en- during tenets of an organization. A small set of timeless guiding principles, core values require no external justification; they have intrinsic value and importance to those inside the organization. The Walt Disney Company’s core values of imagination and wholesomeness stem not from market require- ments but from the founder’s inner belief that imagination and wholesomeness should be nur- tured for their own sake. William Procter and James Gamble didn’t instill in P&G’s culture a focus on product excellence merely as a strategy for success
about his longtime friend and busi- ness partner David Packard upon Packard’s death not long ago, “As far as the company is concerned, the greatest thing he left behind himwas a code of ethics known as the HP Way.” HP‘s core ideology, which has guided the company since its incep- tion more than 50 years ago, includes
Core ideology provides the glue that holds an organization together through time.
a deep respect for the individual, a dedication to af- fordable quality and reliability, a commitment to community responsibility (Packard himself be- queathed his $4.3 billion of Hewlett-Packard stock to a charitable foundation), and a view that the
but as an almost religious tenet. And that value has been passed down for more than 15 decades by P&G people. Service to the customer – even to the point of subservience – is a way of life at Nordstrom that traces its roots back to 1901, eight decades before
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HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW September-October 1996
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