Blog #3

This weeks readings covered leadership responsibilities. Although all of the responsibilities are important and imperative to continue in a leadership position or further the success of a company, the vision is what establishes a company and carries it to long term success. Success is generally measured monetarily; financial success is necessary to future growth, but money cannot be the sole driver and goal of the company. The vision has to be developed from pure and sincere core values and a core purpose. These values and purpose should be consistent throughout the entire life of the company. They are what the company is built on; if a vision is properly implemented, the longevity of the company will rely on the initial values and purpose of the company that first brought it success. In order to get everyone on the same page and passionate, a grand goal needs to be set of where the company could be in 10 - 30 years with an evocative and authentic description of what it will look like. This will take the core values and purpose of the company and incite a fire and passion within the company to reach for that grand goal. The combination of the core values and purpose and the grand goal with its evocative description is what creates a vision.

I have always been interested in pursuing a social venture, but I have also been wary because I know that it is a more difficult path to gain traction. This idea of a pure and authentic vision being a necessary part of the core of the company is encouraging. Social ventures, if nothing else, develop from a genuine need to solve a social issue, so I think their vision is always pure, implementing it would still be a challenge.

In the article, 'Guiding Growth: How Vision Keeps Companies on Course' by Martha Lagace (http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3342.html) it speaks to how a company vision increases organization performance, as well as, attracts top talent who want to be involved with a company with a great vision or aligns with the companies core values and purpose that developed their vision. One example of a vision driven company that the article gives is Whole Foods. Whole Foods does not worry about their bottom line, they have had the vision of providing quality food from the beginning without regard for financial success. Their motto is 'Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet'. This shows that their vision is not only within their stores, but they hope their vision will change the world. Also, their motto seems to be steps, start with eating whole foods to create whole people, who will eventually live on a whole planet. Their vision is unwavering and genuine and people want to support that and be apart of it. Financial success is not their goal, but their continually growing market share shows the strength of their consistent vision.