Principled Innovation LLC

The end of vision and mission

March 15th, 2008

Vision and mission are constructs of 20th century strategic planning. The 20th century is over, and it’s time to embrace the future.

For the 21st century, we need to transcend Really Ordinary Thinking (ROT) and embrace a different approach for conveying a new narrative of value creation through innovation.

So if we’re going to jettison vision and mission from the association lexicon, what should replace them? I propose purpose and point of view as the right alternatives.

Purpose is the organic expression of deeply-felt individual and collective intention. Purpose is the answer to the question, “Why are we here, and what can we achieve together while we’re here?” Purpose isn’t an irrelevant intellectual exercise or a consensus-driven declaration crafted by a committee that splits the difference in the name of expedience. Purpose is about having the courage of our shared convictions and acting on them confidently for the good of the whole. Stewards imbued with a strong sense of common purpose choose to focus their time, attention and energy on leaving our organizations better than how they found them. Commitment to purpose is the lifeblood of extraordinary organizations.

Point of view is a strategic sense of the possible projected forward. Point of view is the answer to the question, “What can the future be if we are able to realize our full potential?” More than a fuzzy snapshot of the future as an extrapolation of the past, point of view is a richly detailed and evocative ~~image~~ panorama of what’s next, rendered through the imaginative application of foresight, and made meaningful by the real-world insight that today’s choices shape tomorrow’s circumstances. By sharing their common point of view, stewards tell a unique story about the kind of organization they seek to invent, and inspire others to fully engage in the endeavor to build it. A bold and persuasive point of view is a wellspring for genuine innovation.

The end of vision and mission as useful strategic tools is at hand. We can discover a more vibrant future for our associations if we focus instead on living a shared purpose and embodying a compelling point of view. This isn’t a matter of semantics, as some will no doubt argue. This is about elevating our thinking so that our organizations can meet the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities of a rapidly-shifting world.

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Entry Filed under: Principled Innovation Blog, What's New?, Social Media, Innovation, Associations, Extreme Makeover, The Association Innovator, Simplicity, We Have Always Done It That Way, PI Services, Garage Memes, Governing Simply

3 Comments Add your own

1. Ann Oliveri | March 15th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

So by declaring PURPOSE is the new MISSION, you really think you are driving a stake in the sand for the new millenia?

Replacing a word is going to magically engender a soul in all those sad organizations that have lost their way?

By calling it purpose, you can create the emotional connection that cause/mission/vision/passion failed to produce?

Jeff, It is all semantics unless we demonstrate otherwise by holding up the associations that got their MOJO back and produced better outcomes.

xxxooo
Ann O.
2. Jeff De Cagna | March 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Ann, thanks for your comment, but I’m not declaring “purpose” the new mission. I’m saying that purpose and point of view are qualitatively different from vision and mission because they challenge us to think about new questions, and to question ourselves in new ways.

If you’re right and vision and mission have helped to create “sad organizations” without “emotional connection,” I can’t see why we would continue to do the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. That’s Einstein’s definition of insanity, and it’s not an approach that will help us achieve the results we seek.

What you call semantics, I call language, and I believe in the power of language to inspire and help us imagine what is possible. To defeat a status quo that is determined to perpetuate itself, our community needs every ounce of inspiration and imagination it can find.
3. Ellen | March 16th, 2008 at 7:14 am

Jeff — Interesting post, but I have to agree with Ann. I’ve been reading the report from an advisory group to a board of directors for a society that needs to reinvigorate itself (maybe you’ve seen the same report). They chose to rely on a combination of references and tools (including Jim Collins’ “Good To Great” adaptation for associations) and the “mission-vision-mystique” model.

Their definition of mission is very close to yours (”the intent of the organization…justifies existence…reason for being…base from which all else is built”) for purpose, and their definition of vision (”aspiration of an organization…what an organization views itself as becoming…should keep the organization stretching and staying current with or ahead of the changing environment…”) mirrors yours for point of view.

Perhaps what you’re getting at is that to truly shift the paradigm we need to readjust our method for determining the central reason for being and for what we intend to become, and that in that process we need to guard against the potential for mediocrity — to fight against the temptation to give in to “committee think” that distills, simplifies, and makes vauge the very things that need to be most meaningful to us in our organizations.

Thanks for the post!

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